The Paper Fan
by jesterneko13
Summary: The turtles are introduced to a fellow ninja, a skilled kunoichi who is in New York for revenge. Who is she to their family? Who is she to their enemy? Can they help her with her mission to destroy a mutual enemy?... How the heck did she come to fall for one of them? Rated T for safety! I DO NOT OWN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!
1. Chapter 1:The Grudge and her Family

These are one of those things I just want to get off my head... Some of the characters might seem too familiar so i don't name them to avoid confusion and other stuff... I do not own the characters very familiar to you! TMNT is not mine! But i can say some of the characters i proudly own.. :D

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fanfic: The Paper Fan

Chapter 1: The Grudge and her Family

July 23, in Japan, a hardworking man just came home from a whole day of work. He opened the door and slowly walked in to the hall, he loosened his tie as he took off his shoes and put on his inside slippers.

(Dialogues are meant to be in Japanese)

"I'm home… where are you guys?" he headed towards the kitchen expecting to see his wife in an apron standing by the stove preparing dinner for the family.

But to his surprise, a cake with lit candles perfectly placed in the middle of a perfectly set table of food took his sight. He walked closely towards the table, and noticed a note on a plate on his side of the table.

"Turn around…" he read.

Another surprise presented itself to him, his 15 year-old son, 13 year-old daughter and his beautiful wife was grinning at him, holding a banner saying "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!" he couldn't help but smile himself, seeing the people that make him feel less tired every after work day. He thanked them, embracing his children and passionately kissing his love of his life. They all sat for dinner, the food that his son and wife has prepared and dug in the cake his daughter creatively made. That night was perfect; smiles, laughs and love were all around their simple house.

That night, he was reading his documents in his study, reviewing progress.

"It's late, aren't you going to turn in early?" his wife asked as she stood by the doorway.

"I know honey, I'm just looking over everything." He replied stretching his arms above his head.

"Are you any closer with this case?" she asked as she entered and joined him on his table.

"Yeah, we have enough to at least charge him with destruction to property and murder. He has no escape this time." He confidently smirked as he flipped through folders to present to his equally interested wife.

"That's good; finally we can let him know that we will get the person responsible for destroying his life. It's just that I wish he was still here to see that happen." She said as he placed the folder back down on the desk.

"We found him as well, he's somewhere in New York, he's laying low after all this years so he won't be easy to track down." He said letting his wife sit on his lap.

"I wonder how he's been doing all these years?" she said as she laid herself on her husband's body.

He wrapped his arms around her body,

"If I know him, he's probably a different man now than he used to be." He smirked.

"You're probably right… now how about we sleep, it's been a long day and I just want to cuddle in bed." She said trying to convince him to stop working all night again and just get on the bed with her.

"Fine, I'll be there in a minute. Just have to fix everything here so I can get back on it tomorrow." He said.

She kissed him before walking out of the room and waiting in their bedroom.

The next day, the children left for school. On the way, the daughter noticed someone suspicious pass by them. He was a skinny, foreign black man. At first she didn't mind but then a few kilometers after, she saw a white puppy run across the street. She stopped walking,

"What is it?" her brother asked stopping in his track as well.

She stared at him with very anxious eyes; he got the feeling of anxiety as well. They both rushed back to their house, running and weaving through streets and people. They both felt a fright as they made their way back. What they saw once they got home was very horrific.

As they entered the house, an eerie silence overwhelmed them. There was blood trails on the floor, they feared the worst. They peeked through the living room and saw the most gruesome sight they wished they never see. Their parents were lying lifeless on the floor, bloodied with numerous lacerations. Next to their bodies were their kunai knives stained with blood. The children were in a state of shock and horror. The boy shifted his eyes to the walls, damage like shurikens and knives piercing through the wall were present. The family crest, a red paper fan, was partly scratched off of the wall. The daughter was still in shock as she dropped to her knees in grief. She screamed at the top of her lungs, his brother took her in to a tight embrace as she began to sob uncontrollably.

The rain rolled in the following minutes, family friends came in to comfort the children. As the boy explained everything to the policemen that worked with his father, his little sister was silent as she was being looked at by the medics that worked with her mother. She was staring off into the distance, still in a state of grief and depression. The coroner and medical examiners took the bodies covered in white cloths out of the house. Everyone followed with their eyes the trail of the man and woman that died horribly in the house. The blood stained white cloths stood out against the dark atmosphere that day. There was so much grief in the little girl's heart that she wanted to cry her eyes out and die with her parents. But her brother would never let her do that to herself, he was her prince and protector and she was his princess and guardian.

Devastation, overwhelming despair swept the family that everyone around them thought was perfect. The little girl was now wrapped in darkness, she was never the same again after that… she was darker, she never smiled again and she was vengeful.

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You see where this is going right? it's those cliche stories about grudges and revenge.. I hope you readers appreciate the effort i gave into making this story.. Thank you for reading the first chapter.. please read on... ^w^


	2. Chapter 2:The Invitation and her Enemy

Chapter 2: The Invitation and her Enemy

Three years after the horrible tragedy, life seemed to have returned to normal. In Sakura Yume High School, the little girl was on the school roof, resting herself on the floor as she stared at the clear blue sky. A strong wind blew her long, black hair off the floor and let it dance in mid-air. Her dark brown eyes glistened as the sun light peeked through the clouds and onto her face. She flinched as she felt the sun's rays on her fair-toned skin.

Then suddenly a few of her childhood friends came busting through the door,

"Hey Maika, where the hell are you!" a boy shouted.

"Shut up! You're going to get us in trouble." A girl shouted back hitting him at the back of his head.

He yelped in pain as everyone behind him was giggling. The girl in question presented herself to them,

"It's almost time for class, we came to come fetch you." Another girl said.

She followed them back inside,

"When are you going to stop going up there by yourself?" the aggressive girl asked as they walked through the halls towards their classroom.

"When are you guys going to leave by myself?" she asked back giving them her stoic, emotionless look.

"Maybe if you start talking to someone about your feelings, you'd feel better and let us be with you." The calmer, shy girl said.

"Try not to take it the wrong way guys, but most of the students know that I should be avoided. Why can't you guys be like them and be afraid of me?" she said.

"It's because we want to be friends with you! It shouldn't be that hard to understand." The boy answered eagerly pointing his finger at her.

She grabbed his finger and slightly bent it backwards, making him yelp in pain again. She showed a smirk as they all entered the classroom.

Her name is Maika, the girl who was scared by the devastating tragedy of losing loved ones. In the years that came after the devastation was extremely difficult for her and her brother, but she used the years to become stronger. She is the youngest member of a once proud ninja clan in the history of the country. She and her brother are the only ones left of the clan; they were trained sometime by their mother and father in the art of self-defense and battle art. She continued to train in the art on ninjutsu under family friends that are also trained in the art of being a ninja. She devoted herself in complete knowledge of ninja techniques in fighting and espionage. Also along with her training, she possessed a rare ability that is only passed down in her father's bloodline. Her eyes could slow down everything when in battle, to her time is irrelevant and she could see every move her opponent makes and she can successfully defend herself coming out of fights unharmed. Socially, only a few people dare to be around her. These few people see pass her emotionless wall and understand her grief. She doesn't acknowledge them as friends, only annoying people who happens to like hanging out with an unfeeling person. She never really smile, she hides everything… every feeling.

That afternoon, students were leaving the school for their summer break. They all ran to the freedom,

"All right, school's on hold for six weeks!" the boy cheered throwing his arms to the air.

"So what are your plans for summer Maika? Training with your uncle in the mountains?" a girl asked.

She smirked in response,

"Hey, I forgot to mention I have invites to the opening of the summer festival down by the riverside. Would you guys like to come with me tonight?" the shy girl said.

"That sounds cool, Maika you should come too." The boy said.

Maika had second thoughts about going but the eager faces on her companions persuaded her to nod and accept the invitation. They all walked home together.

Unknown to Maika, she was being spied on by a group masked ninjas led by a boy seemingly the same age as her. They watched her walk home with her classmates. They watched her closely but never too close that they would get caught by her or anyone close to her. The boy had a devious grin on his face as he and his group disappeared into the shadows.

That night, Maika got ready to leave the house. His brother was working in the living room.

"I'm going out tonight, don't wait up for me okay big bro?" she said as she put on her shoes at the end of the hallway.

"Whoa, where are you going?" he asked with a curious look as his head peered to the hall.

"Classmates invited me to spend the night out by the riverbank." She answered as she tapped her feet on the floor.

"The opening for the summer festival is tonight? Wow, this is new, when was the last time you went out with your friends?" he grinned.

Maika smirked at him as she opened the front door,

"I'm going now." She greeted taking a step out the door.

"Have fun princess, be careful and please don't get into any more fights." He said before the door shut closed and he walked back to his work.

She stepped out of the gate, took a deep breath and leaped to roof of their neighbor's house. She continued to leap on rooftop after rooftop moving towards the riverbank where she was going to meet her classmates. On the riverbank, they were all bonding through the games and entertainment in the festival. She was surrounded by happy people; it was awkward for her because she always wanted to be alone. For a short while she would smile faintly, something that her friends found beautiful.

After a few hours, they all separated to make their way to their respective homes. On her way, Maika walked through the streets this time. Half way she was stopped by the ninjas watching her that afternoon. They dropped down from above and out of the shadows into the light of a single street lamp. Maika was startled but showed no emotion and stayed calm as all of them surrounded her. She started to unsheathe a concealed kunai knife underneath her black wrist band.

"There's no need for that."

She glared at the boy who stepped into the light, he was slightly taller than her, and he had striking blue eyes and silver hair. He smirked at her as he started walking around her.

"We're not here to fight you." He said.

"Then what do you want?" she asked keeping her glare.

"I simply came here to give you a chance to be in the Foot clan." He answered stopping by her side.

"The Foot clan?" she echoed facing him.

"Yes, the Foot clan. Master Shredder finds your talents in ninjutsu quite useful for his clan." He briefly explained.

"What makes you so sure that I would want anything to do with that man?" Maika said.

He chuckled,

"But my dear little black cat, joining the Foot is nothing but a privilege. You really should consider the achievements you can accomplish under the master's teachings. He is the greatest ninja warrior in the world." He boastfully said.

"Your master is a murder, nothing but a criminal. So don't ever come to me saying he is a great man." Maika glared clenching her fists in anger.

"Maybe I came to you too soon…" he said as his group started to move back into the shadows again.

"But it won't be a problem; he has ways of persuading students to come to him. You will join the Foot clan and I can't wait to meet you on the other side." He disappeared into the shadows as well.

Maika was very frustrated; she gritted her teeth and let out her anger by punching a crater into the concrete fence next to her. She instantly leaped to roofs again and went straight for home. She got home very angry, she slammed the door and hurriedly ran to her room in slammed her door as well. Her brother was worried and followed her.

"Hey princess, are you okay?" he knocked.

"Go away, leave me alone!" she shouted through the wooden door.

"I can't do that Maika, open the door and talk to me." He said.

He waited for a response as he pressed his head on the surface of the door, he then heard something break. He quickly got the spare key to her room that was in one of the hallway cabinets. He opened the door to see his little sister panting, her right hand's knuckle was wounded and bleeding, and her mirror wall was broken to pieces.

"What did you do that for?" he asked calmly as he was very cautious not to get in the way of her anger.

"How dare he come at me with an invitation to join him…" she mumbled.

"Oroku Saki came to you?" her brother asked taking one step at a time towards her.

"He didn't, one of his guard dogs did." She glared at herself in the broken pieces of mirror.

"Tell me what he said to you." He said.

That night, she and her brother slept in their parents' bedroom for the feeling of security after she explained everything to him. The next day, she received a disturbing call from the hospital where her mother worked. They both rushed out to the hospital. When they got there, Maika was surprised, frightened and angry. Her classmates, the ones she was with the night before were badly beaten up. The doctor explained that they were found that morning attacked and beaten up like rag dolls. Maika's brother was given pictures of where they were found. It was like hell, bloody and horrifying. Maika gritted her teeth as she watched her classmates' faces flinch in pain. Her brother placed a hand on her shivering shoulder.

"I am not going to let him get away with this." She cursed as she turned on her heel and walked away angrily.

"Where are you going? How sure are you that this was his doing?" he said sprinting after her catching her with a hand around her forearm.

"There are no such things as coincidences, he did this. He must have been watching me that night, he knew who to go after to get to me!" Maika answered as she turned her anger towards her brother.

"Then you know where this will lead, he's playing a game with you Maika. He wants you to go to him on your own will. This is what he wants you to do." He argued.

"Well then you should know that I won't stand for something like this. He's gone too far, I will get him for this." She swatted his grip from her and stormed out.

That night, Maika dressed up in all black, her black long sleeve shirt, underneath her sleeveless black coat, black stocking, and black fingerless gloves reinforced with black chrome plates on the back of her hand and black knee-high sneakers. She packed weapons like shurikens, kunai knives and senbon needles in a pouch that she that she strapped to her waist like a belt bag. She carried a straight katana with a black blade that was also her father's. Lastly, a black coated chrome mask that covered the lower part of her face. She braided her hair neatly. She was ready to go out through the window when her brother came in.

"So you're really going." He simply greeted.

She took of her mask,

"I don't have a choice; do you really think justice will get them? It's moving at a snail's pace, they will do this again if I don't stop them now." Maika said.

"Once you get there, what will you do? You'll kill everyone?" He asked.

She didn't respond and moved out. She made her a way quietly to the mansion where the foot clan is in. She sneaked passed security guards and systems. Curiously, there was no sign of life inside except the guards roaming around the estate. When she got in through the skylight, she quietly moved across the second floor banister and weaved her way towards the shredder's main office. She was able to pick the lock and gained access. She tip toed towards the desk and searched for clues of where the foot clan is. She then saw a picture of a news report showing a shuriken with a five point cherry blossom flower. She took out her phone and took a picture of the picture before putting it back. She kept digging through files and found his plane schedule from months ago.

"He left for New York?" She said in her mind taking another picture.

Then she heard someone twitching the door, she instantly retreated and went out the window and stayed there for a moment to listen in who came in.

"Yes master, I'm getting the documents now. I'll be onboard soon."

It was the boy Maika met the night before. She was even more curious; she closed her eyes and concentrated her hearing.

"Very good, you will be assigned to the mission of destroying Splinter and his disciples. Everything else will be nothing more but distraction; I will trust you with the task."

She heard shredder's deep and almost demonic voice. Her eyes were filled with fear and intrigue. She disappeared off the roof, unnoticed.

When she got home through her window, she rushed to her brother to present what she found. She looked in his room, in their parents' room and in the living room, but he wasn't there. When she looked at the kitchen, she was horrified; they got to her brother as well. He was on the floor, sitting on his own pool of blood while holding down on a deep wound in his leg. He was also covered in cuts and deep laceration all over his arms, defensive wounds, body and leg. She hurriedly rushed to his aid, panicking.

"What the hell happen?" she asked trying to cover up his wounds as well.

"Shiru was here just now…" he answered in between flinches.

Maika was too worried about her brother to think thoughts of going after the boy named Shiru. She called an ambulance and never left her brother's side till the hospital. To her request, he was placed in the same ward as her classmates so she can watch over all of them. She was sitting by her brother's bedside as he laid on the bed unconscious after the surgery to close all of his wounds. She started to regret leaving her brothers home alone and involving her classmates. She began to shed tears,

"It's not like you to cry, black cat."

She raised her head and turned to the side, she was greeted by an old family friend, a tall man with spiky blond hair, and blue eyes that looked on her with grief and concern. He pulled a chair and sat next to her,

"He doesn't like it when you cry." He said cupping her face with a hand and wiping her tears away with his thumb.

"What am I supposed to do now? Everyone who gets near me, the one who can't defend themselves, gets hurt because of me, because I wasn't there to defend them." She said staring the beds in front of her.

"This is not your fault, and certainly not your burden to carry. When your mother and father passed away, you and your brother have gotten stronger." He said placing a hand on her shoulder, pulling her closer for a comforting offer of his shoulder.

"Tell me uncle, if I go after the people responsible for all of this, would you stop me?" she asked.

He was hesitant to answer, if he said yes or even no, he knows she'd go anyway. He didn't want to get killed, he was supposed to take care of her and keep her safe from danger. He took a deep breath,

"He invited me…" she said

He stared at her curiously.

"To join his clan… of course I'd never go with him, but I found something in his home that tells me I should go after him." she continued.

She told him and showed him what she found,

"If I don't go after him, he will kill again… he'll never be satisfied, as long as someone stands in his way. Please let me go after him before he ruins another family's life." She pleaded with a serious face.

He saw it, the same eyes his best friend, her father, had every time he talked about justice for the sake of the innocent. She was serious; she was very determined to judge the man of his crimes to her and to other people.


	3. Chapter 3:The Meeting and her New Allies

Chapter 3: The Meeting and her Allies

Maika's brother woke up at the touch of a nurse checking his wounds.

"Good morning, Itachi. How are you feeling now?" she asked withdrawing her hand from his bandages.

"A lot better than last night, have you seen my sister?" Itachi answered.

"She was here to watch you last night; she left with your uncle just past midnight." The nurse answered as she listed down on her clipboard before walking out of the room.

"Oh, she did want me to give you this." The nurse turned on her heels and handed Itachi a folded paper.

Itachi opened the letter and stared at it with anger and surprise.

Meanwhile, Maika was getting ready to board a plane, on her way to New York City. She had permission from her uncle to go after their talk that night. She pulled her trolley luggage to the security; she had her passport in hand. She took a deep breath before proceeding to the plane.

In the letter;

"Big bro, I'm sorry for ditching you but I have to go confront him for what he did to our family and to my friends. I didn't wait for you to wake up because I know what you would say. Don't worry about me, uncle had already arranged for me to stay at mom and dad's vacation condo in the city. Also, I'm not only going there for me, there is someone I need to search for. I have a feeling his next on the foot clan's kill list. I promise I'll make it back, I love you."

She stared out the plane's window as she prepared herself for the long journey before stepping into an unfamiliar city to finish what her parents wanted to end.

Family friends came to visit Itachi in the hospital that afternoon, he was furious at the same time anxious.

"How could you let her go there by herself?" he glared at the uncle that let her on the plane.

"She was very reluctant, even if I did say no she would still go. She's as stubborn as your old man." The man calmly answered.

"She can't do this on her own." Itachi said lowering his tone.

"Yes she can, she was trained and she has gotten stronger. Besides the person she will try to look for is a master on the ninja arts." The man said.

"How do we even know he's alive? He's been out of reach for years for fifteen years. How do you know she'll find him?" Itachi asked.

The man presented Maika's photo of the shuriken.

"That's a latest news report and only one man is associated with that clan. Hamato Yoshi is alive, your mother and father believed so." The man said.

Itachi had nothing else to argue, he ran out of words.

"I told Maika to call when she lands. You don't need to worry about her. Someday you won't need to walk by her side." The man said placing a reassuring hand on Itachi's shoulder.

"You and I both know, that from the beginning she was always one step ahead of me, I was never walking by her side. I was always behind her, watching her grow." Itachi smiled as tears started to form in his eyes.

The thought that he could not be there for her was making him feel uneasy. He cursed at himself for not being able to keep up with her.

Hours passed, Maika finally landed on the foreign country. She got out of the airport and flagged down a taxi that she instructed to take her to the building where she would stay. On the way she looked out the window in amazement of many colorful neon lights, signs and bill boards that nearly made the city scape look like daytime.

"Is this your first time in New York?" the kind driver smiled as he observed her from the mirror.

She nodded and faintly smiles in response.

"Well you're going to love it here. Just make sure you make new friends, to make things more interesting for you in your stay." He grinned.

She got to the foot of a tall sky scrapper that was one of the edges building in the city center. She stared at the height as she pulled her belongings through the doors. Her room was at the top floor of the building. She rode the elevator with a few strangers. The room was clearly taken care of. She remembered the last time people were probably in that room was when her mother took a seminar trip to the city when she was still a little girl. She threw her things on the couch and scanned the rooms, kitchen and bathroom; she had to do the shopping before anything else. She was tired and it was late so she just changed and went straight to bed before calling her family back in Japan. Of course she received arguments from her brother, support and worry from her uncles and aunts. She called it a night and tucked herself in the big bed.

The next day, she got up early and ate a few of the instant ramen she packed. She got out of the building, slinging her bag across her body. She walked out to see if she can find the people she's hunting. She walked the streets of New York, getting few attentions from teenage boys who tried hitting on her. But she was stoic as she was uninterested. She picked up necessities like food and other stuff as she kept exploring the huge city.

That afternoon, as the sun already started disappearing behind the tall skyscrapers, she stumbled upon a familiar food place, a Japanese noodle shop, Murokami's 24/7 noodles. She went in and sat on the far side of the counter. Before she could say anything to the blind chef, another customer walked in, a New Yorker. She had short red ginger hair that was tied up in a small ponytail, a yellow head band that didn't really do anything to her free flowing curvy bangs that went to the right. She wore a yellow shirt with a white number 5 in the center. She had big blue eyes that stared at Maika.

"Hello, are you a tourist?" she asked.

Maika just stared back, unsure if she should answer. Then Murokami faced both of them,

"What will it be tonight, April-chan?"

"The usual please Mr. Murokami, the guys requested I take some with me when I go visit." The girl, named April, responded.

"Ah, say hi for me, won't you." He said starting to prepare her order.

"Will do…" April smiled.

"And you, what will you have young lady?" he asked the quiet girl in the corner.

"Uhm, Tonkotsu rāmen kudasai murokami-san." Maika answered.

"Hai, migi ni kuru." The chef said in his native tongue.

"Oh cool, you're Japanese. So you are a tourist." April smiled moving from her seat to the seat next to Maika.

Maika was still stoic and a bit flattered that someone of the same age group and gender was talking to her.

"So what are you doing here in the city?" April asked starting the conversation between them.

"I'm looking for an old family friend." Maika answered in English complete with the accent.

"Oh wow, have you found them yet?" April said.

"No, no one has heard from him in years now. It won't be that easy tracking him down in this big city." Maika answered.

"Well maybe I can help you; do you have a picture of the friend you are looking for?" April said.

Maika reached for her phone and scanned the picture of the man with her parents. April was surprised as she was passed the phone; she kept it in though as to hide her relationship with the man.

"You're right it could be hard, can I have the picture and your number. That way when I found him before you, I could contact you." April offered bringing out her T-phone.

Maika was really confused, but she saw through April's face when she saw the picture of the man. She decided to trust April; she wasn't really giving off a bad vibe, just surprise and confusion.

"Cool phone, I've never seen anything like that even in my home country." Maika said as she started to pass the photo.

"I have a… friend, who's really good with electronics. He can build anything from anything." April said.

"Must be a real genius…" Maika mumbled with a smirk.

"Oh you have no idea." April smiled.

"Tell me April-chan, have you witnessed or seen anything strange in the past few months in the city?" Maika asked

April was frightened at the same time very surprised.

"Nope, can't say I have. Everything has been the way it always is, normal." April answered with a fake smile.

Maika saw through her face again, she was trying so hard not to reveal anything.

"Here you go, ramen and pizza gyozza." Murokami said setting their plates on the counter.

They told a few more stories about themselves during eating. Maika didn't really show much emotion as her new friend kept smiling happily at her as they talked and talked throughout their time. They both got out of the store,

"That was fun, nice to meet you Maika-chan." April said.

"You too, April-san, I'll see you around." Maika walked off first flagging down a taxi to take her back home.

April cautiously looked as the taxi disappeared into traffic. She rushed to the lair in the sewers with a bag of take out for her friends. She hustled inside the lair to where her genius friend was his laboratory.

"Donnie, I need to tell you something." She said.

"What did anyone hurt you? Who was it?" her friend, named Donatello, nicknamed Donnie, asked as he swerved off his computer to meet her.

"What, no… I found someone looking for master Splinter." April answered.

Everyone was gathered in the dojo,

"She was Japanese, she was asking about master Splinter." April briefly narrated.

"What did she say?" the person, in a current form of a humanoid rat, in question asked.

"She said she was looking for an old family friend, and then she showed me this picture." April brought out her phone and showed them the picture.

Master Splinter was surprised like April was as he stared at the people in the old photograph.

"Is there something wrong sensei?" Donatello asked noticing his teacher's reaction.

"Call her here; I want to talk to her." Splinter smiled, something that puzzled his students.

They had a meeting at the living room, without Splinter, to discuss if they really should let a stranger in their secret underground lair.

"It's your call Leo, you are the leader." Donnie said.

"You saw Splinter's face, clearly he knows he. We should follow his orders." Leonardo, nicknamed Leo answered but still with a bit of worry.

That night, April was with the guys staking out in one of the rooftops. She dialed her number but no one was answering.

"You think she gave a phony number?" Raphael, nicknamed Raph, asked.

"No way, she seemed so certain she can trust me." April said trying to dial her again.

Then suddenly, they heard commotion from the distance. They proceeded to investigate, jumping from one roof top to the other. They stopped a good distance away and saw a black ninja being attacked by a familiar enemy, the foot clan soldiers.

"Based on her physique from here, I'd say she's female." Donnie said.

Everyone waited for Leo's orders to attack and help, but he was unsure if that masked female ninja was to be trusted yet. The foot held all sorts of weapon; the ninja had her hands in her cloak's pockets. They all charged and she did nothing but dodge letting them hurt themselves and their fellow foot clan. The guys were amazed, she was fast and calm despite being attacked by numerous enemies.

"Leo, should we go and help?" the enthusiastic Michelangelo, nicknamed Mikey, asked ready to leap towards the fight.

"Does it look like she needs help?" Raph said.

"Whoever she is, she's good." April said.

Once all of the foot clan soldiers were gone, they decided to greet the mysterious kunoichi. But before they could make it to her, she drew a kunai from her sleeve and threw it at the ground between them, thinking that they were enemies as well. Donnie protected April by covering her from the black ninja. She faced them,

"Anata wa dare ka, nandesuka?" the kunoichi asked underneath her mask.

"Look, we'll be the ones asking the questions here." Raph aggressively said taunting her with a finger.

"We come in peace." Leo said stepping forward.

"What, we're acting the aliens now?" Raph criticized.

"Donnie, let me have a look." April struggled and stepped in front of the guys.

The kunoichi recognized April and brought her guard down as she stared at the people that were with her.

"April-san…?" She said underneath her metal mask.

The guys stared in confusion at her as April stepped closer. The kunoichi removed her mask,

"Maika…?" April said retuning the surprise to her.

"I was calling you and you weren't picking up." April smiled.

"I was busy… should I even ask about this…" Maika said gesturing to the even more surprised boys behind April.

"We could talk about that but first things first, I found the person you're looking for." April said.

They leaped from roof to roof; the guys were strangely quiet as they lead. April and Maika were moving behind talking,

"How'd you find him?" Maika asked as she held April's hand helping her on great leaps.

"They found me months ago; his students rescued me when I was kidnapped." April answered.

"By student you mean these guys right?" Maika asked.

"Yean, it's a long story and I'd tell you but I'm sure master Splinter will happily tell it himself. I would like to ask you, what were you doing on that roof dressed like that and fighting the foot soldiers?" April replied.

"Also a long story, I'll tell it later as well." Maika answered.

"I'm surprised you acted so calm after seeing the guys, most people usually freak out at the sight of them." April said.

"I've seen worst, there are real monsters out there. These guys, I sense they are different but not so different from me or you." Maika answered moving her gaze to the front where the guys were.

They stopped and dropped down to a dark alley and entered the sewers through the manhole. Still the guys were very quiet. After a while of walking, they entered a spacious lair. They were greeted by the man Maika was looking for, Hamato Yoshi.

"Hamato-san, sore wa saishūtekini anata ni aete ureshīdesu." Maika said bowing down in respect to the great ninja master.

"I'd never thought I'd see one of friend's children so grown up. Oh how I miss them, how are your parents?" Splinter smiled placing a hand on her shoulder, gesturing her that she can raise from the bow.

Maika did withdraw her bow but looked down in grief as she hesitated to answer the question.

"They… they've passed… away Hamato-san." She mumbled stopping herself from crying in front of all of them.

Splinter and his students gasped in surprise, he could not believe it. He grabbed her in a comforting embrace to grieve with her at the loss of two of his closest friends when he was still in Japan, as he knows too much the feeling of losing people you love. She refused to give to her feeling again; she did nothing but kept her arms to her side and let the man embrace her. After a while they all sat down in the dojo to hear Maika's story.

"I'm sorry for your loss Maika-chan. Is that why you came to the city, to avenge your parents?" April frowned.

"My father tried everything to see Oroku Saki rot in jail to pay for his crimes. He ruined a lot of lives and he won't stop as long as he knows nothing can stand in his way. I know now that justice is just too slow and not that strong to hold a man like him, someone has to do it." Maika grimly said.

"I always knew Shredder was a bad guy but he's crossed the lines of bad to purely evil." Mikey said.

"I know your story master Hamato, my parents used to tell me and my brother. You were a great man, and Shredder took all you had away from you. Lady Tang Shen was lucky she had a man like you, even if it was only brief." Maika said turning a pleasing gaze at the man.

"Thank you, I would like to think that too." Splinter smiled

"So what do you want to do Maika?" April asked.

"Hamato-san, with your blessing, I would like to be the one who can stand in Shredder's way. I know he still hunts you down to take revenge on his illusion that Lady Tang Shen was his…" she lowered and bowed her head to the floor.

"…let me be the one to stop him." She pleaded.

"I knew your parents therefore I know how much loving and protective people they were and I know they would do everything to keep you from danger. That is why I won't let you do this mission on your own." Splinter said.

Maika raised her head and stared at him in confusion,

"My sons will help you."

Maika turned her gaze to the four teenagers that was sitting next to April as they turned to her as well. Maika gazed back to Splinter, and had no choice but to nod.

"Alright, we will prepare for the upcoming battle. In the meantime, boys don't you have patrolling to do tonight? I would like to talk to Maika alone." Splinter said.

They guys and April left the dojo,

"I'm not sure you should let them fight this battle, master Hamato." Maika said as she and Splinter stood up.

"I have taught them well, if I do say so myself. They have truly grown to be fine warriors." Splinter said.

"But Shredder's forces have gotten stronger and darker. They have Shiru now, master Splinter and he has gotten more twisted." Maika answered.

"The boy you call Shiru is nothing but Shredder's slave. He is blinded with the belief that Shredder is his master but he's using him." Splinter said.

"Like how shredder's using your own daughter against you?" Maika said with concern eyes.

Splinter exhaled and shifted his gaze to the shrine dedicated to his family, the picture of his wife and child.

"I know master Splinter, Shredder took Miwa that night. He has lied to her, manipulated her to despise you, her own father. Don't you think she needs to know the truth?" she said

"Even if she did know, i don't want her to feel confused of who she really is. It would need time; she's been fed with lies her whole life. I want her to find out the whole truth by herself from shredder himself." Splinter said.

"You truly are kind Master Splinter; my uncles were right about you." Maika said.

"And you truly are his daughter; you have the same sense of what is right. I'm glad I have come to meet you." Splinter smiled.

"Thank you, Hamato-san." Maika bowed and splinter bowed back.

Meanwhile, the guys were staking out at a rooftop of a tall high rise. April was texting Maika,

"How great do you think she is, on a scale of one to ten?" Mikey asked as he hung upside down by his knees of the water tower.

"She's not great Mikey…" Raphael growled.

"Good but not great." He mumbled turning his face to the other side so his brothers won't see his face humbled.

"What about you Leo, do you think she's great?" Mikey asked, shifting gaze to the far side of the building.

Leo was spaced out, staring into the distance.

"What's wrong with Leo, he's been quiet like that since we got home." Raph whispered to the rest.

"What do you want to do?" Donnie asked.

Raph had a mischievous smirk as he and his brothers huddle together. The three of them nodded on a plan. Raph pretended to care and approached Leo, swinging an arm over his shoulders.

"What are you thinking about buddy?" Raphael asked with a concerned voice.

"I'm concerned about the mission Splinter gave us." Leo answered.

"What about the mission, we've always talked about taking the shredder down ourselves. Now we have help in doing so." Raph said withdrawing his arm and crossing it across his body.

"I just think we still aren't ready for it, we're not nearly as skilled as Splinter is and we still have to worry about his henchmen, especially Karai and the boy Maika told us about. If he's as dangerous as she said then we need to rethink about making a frontal assault." Leo said.

"Well you are the leader, you will…"

Donnie and Mikey suddenly shouted in Leo's ears making him jump off the building in surprise. He was falling from a great height as his brothers did nothing but celebrate back on the roof. Leo was saved by a quick shadow that hid him on another building. The guys stopped laughing for a while to see if Leo was able to land safely on a ledge. They looked around, shifting gazes from one direction to the other.

"Did anybody see him land on something?" Donnie asked.

"Don't worry about it; he landed on something catching his breath. I'm sure of it." Raph reassured.

Then suddenly a small metal disc rolled itself at their feet. They stared at it before it released smoke that engulfed them. Then they were pushed off the edge, they caught the edge of the building and reentered the cloud of dark smoke to confront whatever it was that assaulted them off the roof. As their feet landed on the concrete floor, they were swept to their backs. They groaned in pain as a strong wind blew the smoke clear. To their surprise it was Maika and Leo with their swords drawn and pointed at them.

"That wasn't very nice, pushing your brother off like that." Maika smirked as she had her sword pointed at Raphael.

Raphael felt threatened, he growled at her before swerving himself to knock her over with his feet but she jumped and landed distance away from him. He got up, his weapons drawn as he glared at her. He launched himself at her and with his top speed swung his Sais, fists, and feet at her uncontrollably. Maika dodges and avoids his attacks no matter how powerful and unpredictable they get.

"So you're the hot tempered one." Maika teased, grabbing his last kick and throwing him to the entrance of the metal air vents causing them to bend out of shape as it caught the high speed turtle.

"Wow, she saw through every attack, even the ones that were so Raphael." Donnie said as the three of them stared in awe.

"If you let anger blind you, you'll lose sight of everything." Maika said proudly smirking at the fallen turtle who kept a glare at her.

"I'd say she's a ten." April smiled joining them.


	4. Chapter 4:The Ninja and her Challenge

Chapter 4: The Ninja and her Challenge

After their little quarrel everyone wanted to know Maika more.

"So Maika, would you mind telling us more about what you know about the Foot?" April asked sitting the closest to her.

"I probably know as much as what you already know." Maika answered.

"What about Shiru, was it? Can you tell us how a fighter he is?" Donnie asked.

"Shiru as twisted as they come, he's not afraid of anything I don't think he's even afraid of his own death." Maika answered.

"Scary…" Mikey mumbled.

"What's his story?" Raph asked.

"He was an orphan. Shredder took him in and trained him as his student. That was what I could dig up on him." Maika answered.

"What about you, what's your story, Maika-chan?" Mikey asked with an innocent smile on his face.

"Uhh, like what I said in the lair, Shredder killed my parents because they were close in trying to put him in jail for his illegal crimes. Evidence never linked him to my parents being killed, but I know he did it. He had his people do it for him." Maika narrated.

"Tell us something we don't know." Raph said.

"Like what…?" Maika asked.

The guys stood in front of Maika, weapons drawn, as they readied for a practice mock fight.

"Are you guys really going to attack her?" April said as she just stood in the sidelines at the raised platform on the roof.

"She's right; this is won't be fun without a challenge. Why don't we make it more exciting?" Maika said.

She leaped up next to April.

"How about we change it to a game?" Maika said.

"Oh, sure it's manlier to call a fight a game." Raph said with an uninterested look as he crossed his arm.

"How do we play?" Mikey asked enthusiastically pumping himself up.

"Kind of like a game of rescue, I'll give you guys the role of being heroes. I'll be the evil villain who has captured the princess." Maika explained as she gestured at April who acted very surprised.

"Wait, I'm in it too?" April said.

"You're training as a ninja too, right? This is a perfect scenario of how ninja's work in old day Japan." Maika answered.

"I don't like it; won't we be putting April in danger involving her in a fight?" Donnie said anxiously.

"If you guys get her from me, you get to kiss her." Maika suddenly said.

Donnie's mind turned mush and had a cartoonish image of him and her sharing a kiss with April wearing a princess pink dress and him in a knights armor. He popped out of the illusion,

"Alright, I'm in…" he grinned, showing off his diastema.

"Wait, April has to do what?" April said surprised.

The guys prepared their stances,

"I'm not finished…" Maika said.

The guys stared in confusion.

"I sneak into the night, walking through the shadows of the mighty palace and… I take what's precious to the four princes of the Hamato clan and leave without a trace." Maika narrated as she gently grabbed April's hand.

"Catch me if you can…" she said as she pulled April and leaped off the roof.

The guys were dumfounded, as they hurriedly see her set off towards the dark rooftops of New York.

"Let's go get her." Raph said as the four of them set off.

Somewhere, on a rooftop Maika and April waited for the guys to show up.

"Wow, you move fast. I never thought speed like that was possible." April said as she finally sat down with Maika.

"Training is the only thing you can do for speeds like that. I'm even more surprised that you were able to take my speed." Maika said.

"I'm used to it, well being carried. Donnie usually does it whenever they rescue me." April said.

"You've gotten really good friends with the guys. Didn't you ever find it surreal that four teenage mutant ninja turtles are your friends?" Maika asked.

"Well they're not so easy on the eyes, but they're really nice and they'll be there to rescue me anytime I need them. They're my best friends." April answered.

Maika was quiet,

"What about you Maika-chan? Do you have any unique friends?" April smiled.

Maika looked down; she didn't really have friends recently. After her parents died, she pushed everyone away but a few of her childhood friends never left her but she just didn't mind them.

"Maika…?" April muttered.

Suddenly large feet landed on the roof top. They guys have finally made it to where the evil villain's lair.

"Took you guys long enough, did you get lost?" Maika teased standing in front of them.

The guys were panting,

"We did not get lost!" Raph said in between deep breaths.

"Okay… to make the game even more exciting you only have an hour to rescue the princess or else I start eating her." Maika said.

"Really…? You'll start eating her?" Mikey stared in confusion.

"She's kidding Mikey, she can't eat April." Leo reassured.

"Your time starts now…" Mikey smirked.

Raphael attacked first, doing the same unpredictable thing he did to her earlier. But she dodges every single one. The other three began charging too, but she completely dodges multiple attacks. She kept her smirk, teasing them that not even one attack was touching her. Minutes passed and the guys were running out of energy. They stopped attacking because they were already exhausted. They heaved breaths as they fell on their knee pads and hands.

"You done…?" Maika said crossing her arms across her body in content and pride.

"Not yet!" Raphael barked launching himself at her.

She felt bad and time was running out anyway so she kept her stance. With her eyes that turned slightly red under the light of the moon, she saw everything happen as if in slow motion. She raised her arm as he approached her. When he was close enough she grabbed his wrist and flip him to his back. He groaned in pain. Mikey got up and swung his extensive kusarigama chain at her, but she saw it and let the chain wrap around her arm to pull Mikey to her with a swing of her arm. She kicked him on his stomach, making him fly a great distance across the roof. Donnie wildly swung his staff next, he even released the naginata blade, but no matter how many times he swings Maika dodges. The final but powerful blow Donnie made was blocked by Maika's bare arm. It surprised him because it's as if she didn't feel the pain of his strike. She grabbed the staff and threw Donnie at Mikey. Instantly after Donatello was thrown, Leo quickly got up and attacked but she saw through it and again with her eyes, saw everything in slow motion. She blocked the blade of his sword with the metal plate on her gloves. She swatted his blade off and unsheathed her own sword. Their face off began, metal met metal, sparks formed as their weapons kissed together. They were slowly moving closer to the edge as Maika's powerful blows made Leo take one step backwards. Leo was quickly outmatched as he was, on top of all things, exhausted. Maika was going easy on him; she didn't want to hurt the guy. She finished the fight with a strong and powerful swing that pushed Leo to back making him lose a leg to the edge. He would have fallen off if not Maika caught his hand and pulled him back on the safe side.

"Times up…" Maika smirked.

Leo couldn't help but stare in astonishment. She beat them, the four of them. April checked on the rest of the guys to see if they were okay. Maika sheathed her sword back on her back.

"She most definitely is a ten." April said taking in a little of Maika's pride in winning the game while helping Donnie on his feet.

"Looks like I win, consider April completely devoured." Maika smirked placing her hands on her waists, a sign of victory.

"Man that was really cool…" Mikey said.

"I want a rematch!" Raphael barked.

Maika raised a mocking brow at him as she crossed her arms.

"We're done Raph, let's just go home." Leo said sheathing his swords.

"What! We're going to let her beat us just like that." Raph shouted.

"We're tired and we have a mission to prepare for, we need to get back underground." Leo said.

"I can't believe this!" Raph protested.

"Best do what your leader said." Maika said, but Raph glared and growled at her.

"Don't order me around!" he shouted as he leaped off and went ahead of them.

The guys were worried,

"Is he always like that?" Maika asked.

"Some days are better than others. Just give him space, he'll cool down." Leo answered.

They all went back to the lair; telling stories along the way. They found Raph letting his anger out on the punch dummy in the living room, harshly landing blow after blow on it.

Maika stopped at the entrance; everyone looked back and stared in confusion.

"Maybe I should go now, it's late." She said taking a step back.

"Are you sure? Because you can spend the night, that way we can talk about planning the mission." April said.

"No thank you I don't wish to stay here and be a nuisance. But we can talk about that the mission tomorrow evening. Tell master Splinter I said good night." Maika bowed and walked away back to the surface.

"Well that was strange." Donnie said.

"But she's right, it's late. I better get home too." April said.

"I'll walk you home then April, if you don't mind." Donnie blushed.

"Thanks Donnie." April smiled.

Both of them walked back to the surface, the other three were left to continue on inside the lair. On the way to April's apartment, Donnie was quiet,

"What's on your mind, Donnie?" April asked snapping him out of his spaced state.

"What, oh it's Maika. I'm curious; she's not an ordinary kind of ninja." Donnie answered.

"Is there an ordinary kind of ninja?" April asked.

"No, I mean she's of the same age as we are but she's more skilled. I'm curious because we were trained with no other distractions but she had school to worry about." Donnie explained.

"Donnie, Maika, like master Splinter said, comes from a family of ninjas. Her ancestors are probably ninjas too. She was born with it." April smartly answered.

"I know but if she's that good, we can expect that this Shiru guy she spoke of is even more skilled and dangerous than her." Donnie anxiously said.

Unknown to them, the boy they were talking about was watching them from a distance.

"She's running with a new crowd these days, time to shake things up a notch." He devilishly grinned as he disappeared from his place of hiding.

Donnie and April reached her apartment and landed on the balcony to her room,

"Maybe tomorrow we'll find out more about Maika." April said opening her window.

"Alright, good night April, I'll see you tomorrow." Donnie smiled.

As Donnie got on the roof, he was greeted by a few foot clan soldiers, which he easily fended off. But then someone who came from the shadows knocked him off the roof and into the alley. April heard it and saw through the window a couple dark figures that descended from the roof. She hurriedly ran downstairs to investigate. Her head peered around the corner to see that Donnie was on the lying on his stomach on the ground surrounded by foot soldiers and a boy with silver hair. She was surprised and frightened, but she swallowed her fear and decided to attack them with her metal tessen fan. The boy laughed maniacally and attacked her. The last thing April saw his blue eyes before her vision was blackened.

Meanwhile somewhere in the city, Maika has just gotten home. She got through the front door of the building and an employee sitting behind the counter called her attention. She approached to see what he wanted.

"Someone left this for you just now Miss Maika…" he presented her with a package.

When Maika opened the box, he eyes widened in terror and surprise. It was April's tessen and a Hamato clan shuriken covered in blood. She hurriedly ran with the box back to towards the turtle's lair. On the way, she passed by a construction site, where shadows stopped her.

"Hi there black cat, did you like your present?"

Maika glared as the shadows came into the light of the moon. It was Shiru; she kept her glare as he devilishly smiled at her.

"You're running with a new crowd these days. That's not fair, the foot clan extended their hand to you first so why be around freaks." He said as he started walking around her.

"Stay away from them." she angrily muttered.

"Too late, master Shredder wants them dead too anyway. I mean you do know their story, right?" Shiru said.

Maika clenched her fist in rage,

"Oh you chose the wrong side Maika, and if you are wise, you'd join us before it's too late." Shiru disappeared into the shadows again.

She was so angry she punched the concrete fence. It crumbled and collapsed on impact. She moved fast back to the lair. Once she got there, all worried eyes were on her. She approached them and stared in shock, April was lying unconscious and hurt in futon mattresses in the middle of the living room. She dropped to her knees in horror. She shifted a gaze at Donnie who had an ice pack to his head and was covered in bruises all over his limbs. He looked back at her with despair in his eyes. He took out April's tessen from her belt and placed it by April's head. Maika sat on the floor and caressed April's ginger head.

"What kind of ninja am i? I didn't even stand a chance to protect April." Donnie frowned in guilt.

"This is no time to be sappy. Let's just gear up and avenge April." Raph barked punching his fist on his palm.

"As much as I want to do that Raph, we just can't." Leo said.

"Why not, Leo…? They've hurt part of our family, shouldn't we teach them a lesson for that!" Mikey shouted just as upset as Raph.

"We need to think this through; we can't just go and attack blindly." Leo lectured his brothers though feeling the same depression as they were.

"You've got to be…"

"Your brother is right, Raphael. This is a grievous situation but going after them now won't make things better for April if all of us are going to end up hurt as well." Splinter said coming in from the dojo.

"But sensei, they've gone too far. April had nothing to do with this. Why did she have to suffer like this? She was defenseless and innocent." Mikey said.

"Enough! As ninja's we are obliged to protect those close to us, but not with rage. We will make them pay, in the right time." Splinter said.

"Hai, sensei…" the turtles answered in humility.

But then,

"Hey, where'd Maika go?" Donnie said.

Everyone shifted gazes around the lair,

"You don't think she…" Donnie said as they all feared Maika went to hunt down the people responsible, the foot clan.

"You guys stay here, I'll go after her." Leo hurriedly marched towards the entrance to run after her.

"Maika has been searching for justice for the death of her parents ever since she got here. Now she is getting blinded by rage again. We must keep her from killing herself because of her rage." Splinter said joining Donnie on their couch.

"Sensei, she's a very different kind of ninja. She's powerful but also dangerous, isn't she?" Donatello said as he looked with concern at April.

"She is… just like her parents and the ones that came before her. But she has a big heart unlike the ones that did this to us." Splinter said placing a comforting hand on his son's shoulder.

Meanwhile outside on the rooftops, Leo was hustling to find Maika,

"Please don't do anything stupid, don't get yourself killed." He mumbled as he leaped from one rooftop to another.

The sky started clouding up and rumbling overshadowing an ominous event coming to the city.


	5. Chapter 5:The Strength and her Heart

Chapter 5: The Strength and her Heart

Leo was still leaping around trying to look for Maika. He lost her track for many times, and then suddenly he heard a crash at a nearby construction site. He moved towards it as the rain started to pour that early morning, and he finally saw her.

"Maika, what are you…" Leo dodges a shuriken that was thrown at him.

"You shouldn't have gone after me." She glared as she landed on the same ledge as he was on.

"I know what you're feeling, but this is not the way to resolve it." Leo lectured.

"April is hurt because I got too close to her!" Maika shouted stopping her tears from falling.

"Don't say that. This is not your fault. If you go after them now, April will get even more hurt knowing that you blindly walked into the foot clan's front door because of her." Leo said trying to calm her down.

Maika gritted her teeth and punch a post reducing it into nothing but debris. Leo was surprised of her strength as he followed the fallen solid concrete fall down to the ground,

"They deserve nothing but pain…" she mumbled.

Leo tried to walk towards her, but she leaped off again into the rain. Leo followed but her powerful leaps took her further and further away from her. He was getting blinded by rain, he squinted his eyes to see her disappear into the distance. But he went on and followed her anyway.

Maika was feeling the despair of letting another friend get hurt in the hands of the enemy. Her eyes wanted to cry, as she rubbed the rain water off her face, she accidentally bumped herself to a store shed on a roof. It slowed her down as she shook her head and picked herself off the ground. She felt other than the cold rain ran down her cheeks. She got up to move again but Leo has already caught up with her. She stared behind her as a strong hand grabbed her arm.

"I won't let you go do this." He said as he pulled her back to a constricting embrace with his other arm.

She struggled; she threw her head back and hit his face making him lose his grip on her. She started running away from him as he held his face in pain, but he recovered fast and grabbed her arm again. He tightened his grip as he made her face him, twirling her around to catch her again in another embrace. She began to struggle again as Leo wrapped strong arms around her.

"Let me go, Leo. You don't understand…" she said trying so hard to break free.

"Then tell me a reason why I should just let you fight them on your own." Leo asked loosening his grip, staring into her watery eyes.

"Because I won't let you fight them with me!" She shouted.

"Why, why won't you let us fight?" he intensely asked.

"Because I'm not strong enough!" She answered.

Leo stared at her puzzled,

"I can't protect you, I don't want to lose you guys as well." She said in a calmer tone.

He saw it, she was very concerned. The reason why she pushed back so many of her friends in the past was because she didn't want them to get hurt because of her. Her tears started pouring like the rain as her cheeks filled up with a light shade of red. He gave back her concern with his own concern; he pulled her gently for another embrace. She poured every tear on his strong shoulder. After a while, he decided to keep them from the rain. He opened the shed and brought her inside. He opened the single light and saw nothing but shelved paint cans in the small shed. He let her sit on the dry floor as he closed the door.

"We should stay here and get dry before we go back to the lair." Leo said sitting on the opposite side.

He stared at her; she was spaced out, staring at nothing but the floor.

"Maika, are you okay?" he asked.

She stayed silent,

"Are you cold?" he asked again.

"Why did you come after me?" she whispered.

Leo was now the one who was silenced as he stared at her puzzled.

"We just met, so why are you so concerned about me and what I do?" she said as she raised her head enough to see his confused face.

"You should know the reason, as a ninja it's our job to look after one another. That's what master Splinter taught me and my brothers." Leo answered.

"Tell me Leo, if you were in my shoes now, what would you do?" she asked.

Leo smiled,

"I'd probably do the same thing you're doing; I'd carry the burden on my shoulders and choose to fight it as my own battle. But I have another choice…" he answered.

Maika stared at him confused. Leo crawled to her side,

"I have a choice of letting my family fight with me. That way I know I'm strong enough to defeat my enemies." He smiled.

"You and I think differently." She responded burying her face on her raised knees.

"I can never jeopardized the safety of the people I care so much for a fight I know even I can't win." She said.

"Before anything else, didn't Donnie hit you with his staff?" he stared.

Maika almost completely forgot, she pulled her left sleeve back and showed her swollen purple arm.

"Oh my, didn't you feel that all this time?" he asked astonished of how her arm has looked like an eggplant, he was trying to find something to wrap her arm with.

"I was worried about something else." Maika answered.

"Even so, I'm impressed you were able to ignore the pain." He said finding a clean piece of cloth.

He started wrapping her arm with it,

"I never should have gotten you guys involved with this." Maika whispered.

Leo kept wrapping,

"Even if you didn't show up in our lives, we had a reason to take shredder out ourselves. He got his heart set out on ruining my family." He said.

Suddenly, a loud rumble startled Maika and it made her quiver, scrunch up and cover her ear with her free hand. Leo found it cute and couldn't help but smile at it,

"You don't have to fear anything, I'm here for you." He smiled as he finished tying the knot to her wraps.

Another and louder rumbled made Maika close her eyes shut as the light suddenly went out. Leo suddenly felt a weight on his chest. He froze at warmth of it,

"Maika are you…" he mumbled trying to see through the dark.

The thunder kept roaring and Maika wasn't letting Leo off. He was unsure of what to do with himself in the situation. But to any teenage boy, his reaction was to comfort her and he wrapped his arm around her.

"I got you…" he whispered as he snuggled his face in her hair.

To them it started to go quiet despite the heavy rain and roaring thunder outside. Leo dozed off but he never let her go. He could hear her heart beat a steady pace, it was like his lullaby. With her eyes, she can see his peaceful sleeping face. Steady breaths that escaped his lips were intoxicating for her. He was her barrier, her protector for that night. But her principle was confusing her. She didn't want anyone of them, her new allies, her new friends, to get hurt in a battle she sworn to finish by herself. But somewhere in her heart was telling her to trust Leo's words and that with all of them fighting alongside her they would be able to be defeat anything that stand in their way.

Suddenly Leo's face twitched as if he was being pinched on the cheek. She smiled at the childish look on his face. She carefully moved closer to him and pecked his green cheek.

"Thank you, Leo…" she whispered leaning back against him.

Meanwhile, back in the lair, Donnie was watching over April in the living room while his brothers and teacher were in the dojo.

"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you, April." He whispered caressing her bandaged face.

April felt his warm hand and began to slowly open her eyes,

"You shouldn't say that Donnie…" she whispered as she pushed her blanket off her body.

Donnie's eyes shot open,

"April, you're awake… you're okay… I mean you…"

"Stop talking for a moment will you…" she smiled.

"How are you feeling?" he calmly asked.

"Been better, where's Maika?" She answered.

"She got out…" Donnie answered,

April instantly popped out of her bed in surprise,

"What…? Why would you let her go?"

"Leo went after her, relax…" Donnie said.

April was able to breath calm relieved breathe.

"Why are you worried about Maika?" Donnie asked

"Because she's all he wants kill…" April grimly answered.

Splinter and his two other sons came out of the dojo just as Donnie was helping April sit upright.

"What do you mean?" Splinter asked.

"She's in trouble sensei. We have to keep her from attacking them by herself or else she'll get herself killed." April anxiously answered.

"Why…? She's a very powerful ninja, why would she get killed that easily." Mikey said.

"Yeah, she can take care of herself." Raphael said.

"You don't understand, he's dangerous and he will kill Maika in whatever means necessary." April defended.

"I'm calling Leo, to check on him." Donnie said bringing out his T-phone and dialing Leo's number but to no avail.

"The storm's causing too much static, I can't reach him." Donnie was frustrated.

"Well, we can't find him without contacting him first. And the storm will also make it hard for us to track them." Raph said.

"The best thing we can do is wait for the storm to pass." Splinter said.

"Sensei is right; we can only hope that it will be soon." Donnie said.

Unfortunately for them, the rain never stopped falling for hours more. Leo was just beginning to open his eyes, he yawned and wanted to stretch himself awake but he was constricted. He looked at his body and found himself tied by rope in the same position as the way he slept with Maika in his arms. He struggled to break free. He searched the tiny room for Maika but she was gone. He tried to stand up but he was tied down to an iron pipe on the wall. He wriggled more to break free but to no avail. Then he heard his phone ringing, he searched for it in his belt but he couldn't move his arm.

Back in the lair,

"Guys, there's a signal. I can reach Leo, but he's not answering." Donnie said holding his T-phone by his ear.

"Something must have gone wrong, Donnie try locating Leo." April said.

Donnie pushed a few buttons and,

"I got him, let's go." He said as he and his brothers and April stepped out into the surface.

Leo was still struggling to break free, and then he remembered something that night as he was dozing in and out of consciousness,

"Thank you Leonardo…" a female voice whispered in his ear as he squinted through the darkness to see her face.

"Maika…? What's…" he managed to mumble out of his mouth.

He felt her finger on his lips,

"You should rest now, thank you for showing me your strength. I promise that you won't need to fight anymore, I'm going to finish everything for all of us." She whispered.

"No… you shouldn't…" he protested but his sleep was pulling him back in.

She covered his eyes with her hand, then when he started to move his arm but she gently placed them back down. She leaned down and whispered something to his ear, something he barely understood and he passed out again.

Meanwhile,

"Leo should be right on that roof." Donnie said as they stood at nearby building.

"But I don't see him or Maika." Mikey said stretching his neck to see.

"Only one way to be sure..." Raph said as they leaped onto the roof.

They started looking for any signs of Leo or Maika,

"Leo, are you here bro?" Mikey shouted.

Leo heard them outside,

"Guys, I'm in here!" he shouted.

Donnie picked the lock and they all entered,

"Dude, what happened to you?" Raph greeted as he moved and kneeled by Leo to untie him.

"It's complicated…" Leo answered.

"Leo, where is Maika?" April asked cutting in to enter the room.

"I… I don't know." Leo answered as he looked down.

"But she was with you last night?" Donnie asked.

"She was, we moved here because of the rain, then the power went out so we slept then when I woke up she was…"

"Wait… You mean you slept with her?" Raph asked as he finished untying him.

"That was not what I meant, Raph. It was raining and she was cold." Leo defended as he rubbed his arms for comfort.

His brothers were in disbelief and wanted to tease him more. April was trying to contact Maika's phone. Then they heard her ringtone coming from the shelf hidden behind paint cans.

"Oh great, she ditched her phone. How are we going to track her now?" Raph said grabbing the black phone from the shelf.

"Well we know who she's going after." Raph said.

"We have to go stop her." April said running off first.

"Alright, let's go." Leo said leading his brothers.

They made it to the Foot clan's lair, they stayed on the roof of the building facing it to observe.

"It's too quiet, are they even in there?" Donnie whispered over to Leo.

"One way to find out…" Raph said

They cautiously but boldly sneak a peek through the colored glass window. They saw no one.

"Looks like they're not here…" Mikey whispered.

"They could have moved, but where?" April whispered also.

"Let's get back to the lair; we need to track Maika and the foot." Leo said as they disappeared into the alley and back into the sewers.

Somewhere in the city, the dark figure stands atop a roof as she prepares for a battle that would determine if she had the strength and heart to finish everything in her hands. She took a deep breath of the cold air, cut her wrist with a kunai and licked her own blood. She grinned as her tongue reentered her mouth.

"Time to party…" she whispered as she opened her eyes revealing her irises that were tainted blood red as she moved and leaped off.


	6. Chapter 6:The Fight and her Trust

Chapter 6: The Fight and her Trust

The dark clouds have not yet receded from the sky.

Back in the lair, Donnie and April were burning fingers on the computer trying to locate Maika or the foot. Mikey and Raph were in the dojo and Leo was in the kitchen pacing out his anxiety,

"What troubles you my son?" Splinter asked coming in the kitchen.

"I can't think straight sensei, what if she dies before we get to her? And it's my entire fault for taking my eyes off her." Leo answered as he stopped pacing to face his master.

"For now all you can do is trust in her. She has been trained just like you and your brothers, she can handle herself." Splinter said calming him down.

"Right now sensei, I'm having a hard time focusing on whether or not she can be trusted. I mean she tied me to a pipe in a room on a roof!" Leo was still frustrated about it.

Splinter hid his laugh,

"Try not to take it the wrong way my son, but she, like you and your brothers, have created your own enemies and I know that you know that she has to fight those enemies to ensure the safety of the people close to her." he said.

"But sensei, she's said so herself, she admitted that she wasn't strong enough. That's why I wanted to be by her side and fight alongside her. To make sure she doesn't end up…" Leo said.

"Master Splinter…" April ran to the kitchen holding Maika's ringing phone.

"What is it April?" Leo asked.

April presented Maika's phone,

"It's Maika's older brother, he's calling." April said.

Leo and Splinter looked at each other,

"I will talk to him, he should be able to recognize my voice, I knew him as a child." Splinter said taking the phone and answering it.

(Meant to be in Japanese)

"Hello Maika…? Why haven't you called me yet? You promised me that you'll call me every night." Itachi said in a worrying tone.

"Hello, Itachi…?" Splinter greeted.

"Hamato-san…? Is that you?" Itachi asked surprised.

(English)

"Yes it is me, dear child." Splinter smiled as all of his students gathered and listened in the kitchen.

"Wow, I can't believe Maika found you. Where is she? Is she there with you?" Itachi said.

Splinter took a while to answer,

"She… she is… well…" Splinter mumbled,

"Itachi-san, I am a friend of Maika." April cut in.

"Oh really…? She made a friend? She's only been there for a couple days. Well, where is she?" He said in a comic disbelief almost.

"She's gone, Itachi-san." April said in a disappointing tone.

"What do you mean gone?" Itachi anxiously asked.

Meanwhile, Maika has finally found Shredder's new hideout, a building labeled TCRI. She got on the roof to observe from a skylight. She saw shredder, his daughter and Shiru by his side and a few monsters with people in suits that all looked alike.

"It looks like his army has gotten bigger and even more hideous by the looks of his new allies." She thought as she moved to another skylight.

Inside, she carefully listened to their conversation.

"Kraang has created the request that has been requested of kraang by the one known as the Shredder." The man with the suit said.

"Perfect, we are ready for the final phase of my plan to kill Hamato Yoshi and his students. All we need is good bait." Shredder said.

"Bait…?" Maika echoed in her head.

"Shiru, I'm leaving you the task of finding Maika. Bring her to me alive, she is what we need to lure Splinter out of hiding." Shredder said.

"Don't worry master, I have a feeling I have the task will be the easy one." Shiru responded shifting his gaze to the sky light and saw nothing but a swift shadow.

Maika has retreated too late, she moved as far away from the building,

"Now, I need to stay away from them, completely. I can't involve them in this even if they have their own battle to do with them." She thought as she leaped further and further.

Back at the lair,

"So she shouldn't fight?" April asked Maika's older brother.

"To the people around her, she shouldn't or she'll lose control of herself." Itachi said pacing on the hospital roof.

"Please Itachi-san we need to stop her, can you please tell us where her address is and maybe we can stop her there." Leo said.

"Okay, okay the condo building in upper Manhattan near the edge of the river. She's staying at the top floor." Itachi said.

Leo and the guys went out to the surface, where they hoped they would find her there. Maika made it home and she entered through the window. She searched through her stuff for weapons. Meanwhile, Shiru went to the building,

"Excuse me, do you need something?" the doorman asked.

"Well, I'm Miss Maika's friend, she invited me over to her place for lunch." Shiru smiled.

The doorman let him in, gesturing him to take the elevator to Maika's floor.

In Maika's room,

"Were you planning to go back to Japan?"

Maika whipped her head to the front door where Shiru stood in confidence with his arms crossed. He stepped in and jumped to the sofa to sit,

"You weren't just about to leave your new friends behind, were you?" he smirked.

Maika swiftly pulled out her sword and pointed it at him, glaring at him. Shiru just smirk as he sat comfortably throwing his arms out to the head of the couch.

"You know you can never kill me. If you can, I would have been dead already." He said.

"Not this time Shiru, I'm ready to kill you." She said as her glare intensified and her grip on her sword's handle tightened.

Shiru laughed loudly,

"You bring tears to my eyes Maika-chan."

He stood up with Maika's sword following his every move,

"But you will die after all this. To make things a bit more fun for all of us, we've decided to invite your new friends over and let them die with you." He said.

Maika gritted her teeth in anger and swung her sword at him,

"I'll never let you have them!" she shouted making consecutive and powerful attacks.

Shiru confidently dodges them as Maika continues to wrecks her room just to land a blow on him; he mocks her with a laugh every time she misses him.

"You can't hurt me, and now…"

Maika stopped, she felt something weird, and she dropped her sword and screamed at the sudden rush of an electric current through her. Shiru had stunned her with a dangerously high voltage of electricity. Shiru laughed maniacally at her pain as she passed out, dropping on the floor unconscious.

"That was too easy…" Shiru said standing over her body.

Maika's eyes shot open, she grabbed a knife from her pouch and attacked Shiru again, this time managing to cut his cheek. He leaped back, touched his bleeding cheek and licked his blood off his finger. He grinned at her,

"Like I said too easy…" he attacked and dodges her swing.

He slammed his hand with his hidden and powerful modified stun gun on her upper chest delivering a deadly blow direct to her heart and lung paralyzing her breathing and heartbeat at that moment. After a few seconds, he withdrew his hand and let her drop in his arms unconscious and barely breathing.

"I would love to kill you now black cat but I still need you." Shiru whispered sadistically near her ear.

She carried her over his shoulders and left through the patio. Just as he was coming out, Leo and the others spotted him. He smirked at them before disappearing into a cloud of smoke from a smoke pellet.

"No we're too late!" Leo said taking one great leap to catch up but to no success, he was gone with her…

"I can't believe we lost her!" Leo said punching the concrete floor of the building next to the condo angry at himself for coming in too late to save her.

The rain started pouring again,

Donnie and April ran to inside Maika's room through the patio door.

"Whoa, she seriously had a fight with him." Donnie said amazed of the damage in the room as his brothers followed inside.

"Just how dangerous is this guy." Raph said.

"Dudes, check this out." Mikey said as he picked Maika's sword from the floor.

Leo took it from him; he found the sheath and kept it, attaching it on his back with his other swords. April went to the bedroom and found a black book sitting on the white pillows. She opened it but the words were written in Japanese. She let Donnie figure it out.

"Now I wish I paid better attention on Splinter's lesson on Japanese calligraphy." Raph said trying to read it.

Donnie flipped to the last page with her last entry and that part was written in English,

"I trust you now my friends to let me handle this battle. Oroku Saki has taken my parents and has endangered my friends and brother. I am not going to let him take you, too. I'm sorry but I have to defeat them on my own." April read.

Leo was in disbelief as he tried to keep himself from storming off to mindlessly look for her.

"What do we do now, Leo? I mean, she said we should…"

Leo cut Donnie off; he punched his fist to the wall in anger.

"We're going after her, let's go." He said marching back to the patio door.

"But Leo she said we should stay out of her way." Mikey said.

"I don't care; we can't let her do this on her own." Leo said.

"I'm all for it Leo, I won't let some kunoichi take shredder down but how are we going to track her down?" Raph said.

There was no response from Leo as looked outside the curtain of rain pouring down from the sky.

That afternoon, Maika was just waking up, she was lying on a cold concrete floor of a small dark room,

"Nice to see you're waking up, princess."

Maika lifted her head, to see Shiru standing in front of her,

"You might still feel a little woozy so maybe you should just lie down!" He kicked her in her gut and sent her flying to the wall.

"I can't tell you how many times I've dreamt of doing that to you." He said approaching her as she pried herself to get up on her feet.

"To see you suffer the pain of losing the most important people in your lives. Do you understand my pain now, black cat?" he said lacerating her forearm.

He maniacally chuckled letting her blood drip off his sword,

"Your goody-two-shoes of a father took my father's life away as he proudly tattled that my father was involved in a drug conspiracy in the police department." He wounded her shoulder.

"And your mother never even tried to save my mother from dying of cancer." He wounded her back.

Maika was bleeding all over herself, trying to stand up,

"And now you die… but before you die, would you like to know how I killed your parents?" he unsheathed his silver sword.

"I should tell you, they were too proud to run away or to beg for their lives but when I said we were going to go after you and your brother they let themselves get killed." Shiru narrated with a devious smirk.

"Maybe I'll kill you the way I killed your father…" he raised his sword above his head.

But Karai opened the cell door,

"Shiru, they're here… you better get outside if you want to see the main show tonight." she said.

"Right…" he kept lowered his sword to his side,

"Well princess, looks like the plan to use you for bait was a success. You never learn do you, whoever or whatever you meet will always end up dead. Maybe I'll bring them to you in chains and let you watch them get de-shelled." Shiru said as he headed for the door.

Just before closing the iron door,

"Don't even think about going through this door, it's protected by the same electric current that knocked you out a while ago. Trust me; if you get hit again you won't survive. You weren't strong enough to protect any of them black cat, in fact you never had the strength." Shiru said closing the door activating the dangerously high electric current that conducted itself on the iron door.

Maika sat upright as she wiped the blood on her lips and licked it off the back of her hand. She took a deep breath,

"Oh great, I'm seriously in trouble if I don't close up these wounds." She said taking a pill bottle from her pouch.

"Sorry mom, but your medicine will have to do for now." She said before taking a small ball from the bottle and eating it.

The medicine worked as a pain reliever and a fast acting healing medicine that made Maika's deep wound close.

After a minute, she stood up and stretched her arms out. She began to look around,

"Not a lot of way out, the door will have to do." She walked towards the door.

She held her finger close to it and saw a line of electricity connect with it. She withdrew her hand and flexed her fingers a few times. She saw more lines of electricity jump from a finger to the other.

Meanwhile outside, the turtles were battling the foot soldiers. Taking them down easily,

Maika took a deep breath, she exhaled and glared at the door, she clenched her fist…

"The war starts now." She said.


	7. Chapter 7:The War and her Strength

Chapter 7: The War and her Strength

Leo and his brothers were fighting non-stop at the foot of the TCRI building. The foot soldiers and kraang droids were running out but they kept on coming at them. Shredder and his top henchmen were watching on from an open window.

"Hamato Yoshi is not with them!" Shredder said uninterested in the fight.

"Calm yourself master, think of it this way, once we capture those four we can make them tell where Hamato is or we can just wait till the old rat shows himself up to rescue them." Shiru said.

"Very well, get them to me, alive." Shredder said withdrawing himself from the audience and heading back inside the building.

"Finally we get to have fun." Karai said as she led them to fight.

The turtles were running out of energy faster than they were running out of enemies. When the last foot soldier fell, shredder's top henchmen stepped in. Karai, Shiru, Bradford now called Dogpound because of his mutation to an anthropomorphic dog, and Xever now called as Fishface because he has been mutated to an anthropomorphic fish with robotic legs, attacked the turtle knocking them to their backs. Leo was still enraged and attacked the boy who took Maika. Shiru blocked and confidently counterattacked with his sword.

"Wow, I guess you're still upset I took your girlfriend." Shiru teased.

Leo heaved breaths as he tightened the grip on his sword. The others were fighting of the other henchmen as well, taking a beating but hitting them back as well.

"Where is she?" Leo growled,

"Do you really want to know?" Shiru smirked,

They resumed exchanging attacks,

"She's dead; she's nothing but a lifeless doll now!" Shiru shouted matching his loud words with a powerful blow that threw Leo back.

Leo was in disbelief and doubt, he focused on attacking, and he won't believe him unless he sees it.

"You're lying!" Leo launched himself at Shiru.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the building, it was strangely quiet. Shredder was walking in a hallway that usually had numerous kraang droids walking around but it was empty. He walked cautiously and stopped as he sensed a shadow that moved behind him. He turned on his heel to see who it was. The next second, he had a kunai knife against his throat and a shadow was standing behind him.

"Do you still remember me?"

"Maika, it's a surprise that Shiru haven't finished you up yet." Shredder swung his arm but hit a black cloth.

"Quiver in fear now, shredder."

She was like a ghost, too fast for him to see.

"I fear nothing!" Shredder shouted.

He could hear her chuckle echo in the hall.

"Tonight, your clan falls." She said showing herself to him, glaring at him with her red blood thirsty eyes.

Leo and the others were fending their enemies off but they were getting tired of it. Back in the hall, Maika was smartly fighting off shredder. Tiring him out before she strikes, she stopped moving and caught his fist.

"My move…" she smirked as she grabbed his arm and flipped him to the other side of the hall.

Shredder caught himself and landed on his feet but Maika instantly kicked his head that greatly bent his metal helmet and sent him flying through the wall to the neighboring office space destroying tables and computers. She then punched his body denting his armor over and over again, pushing him back against the glass window. She gave him no chance of fighting back. She punched him directly on his face destroying the mask he wore and also shattering the glass window. Shredder dangled on the edge by a hand. Maika looked down on him,

"How does it feel to fear when you claim you fear nothing?" she said with a stoic face.

He glared and hoisted himself to kick her but she dodges and leaps back in letting shredder come back up. She smirked as shredder activated the knives on his arms and started fighting back. She dodges and blocks his swift swings with her kunai knife.

"You're a little girl, how dare you underestimate a master like me!" he shouted with his mutilated face.

"I am stronger than you, I am far superior to any of you!" he shouted finally landing an attack on her right arm as she tried to block.

She was pushed back, shredder felt confident landing one on his enemy. Maika sighed and licked her wound, she smirked at him right after.

"You say that you are superior and that you're a master, but I see nothing more than monster trying to blend with people." Maika teased.

Shredder launched himself at her but she continues to dodge his attacks.

"You do nothing but satisfy yourself with your stupid vendetta, everything to keep yourself safe while the others around you suffer!" she started to fight back.

"They were not fit to walk on the world I walk on. They had it coming to them!" Shredder said.

Maika gritted her teeth in anger she swung her knife faster and stronger,

"My parents were killed because you were too afraid of answering for your crimes against master Hamato and his family." She stopped and pointed the knife at him, taunting and teasing him.

"Master Splinter was always twice the man you never hoped to be. You were always envious of him that's why you ruined his life!" Maika said attacking him relentlessly.

"His sons are a hundred times more of a warrior than any soldier you will have. Face it; even after you think ruined his life back in Japan, Hamato Yoshi still has a better life than you!" Maika threw senbon needles at him aiming for vital parts but his armor blocked them.

She followed with continuous swings of her knife, arm and kicks. She landed a powerful kick than sent him crashing through the concrete ceiling to the next floor above them. She leaped and followed him. He was picking himself up,

"Oh how I wish your followers see you like this, especially your so-called daughter, Karai. Tell me, is she anything else but a tool to you, a tool you plan to use against her real father?" she said starting to circle around him.

"Even Lady Tang Shen didn't want you." She stopped.

"And now, you will know defeat. You will know the pain of losing the most important thing you hold dear…" she leaped to the ceiling, attaching herself to it…

"Your honor!" she let go of the ceiling and dropped to him fist first.

The impact was so great and inhuman, shredder's body went through every concrete floor to the lobby. The drop made everyone at the lobby stop fighting and waited for dust clouds to clear to see what dropped. Shredder's henchmen were in disbelief,

"Father!" Karai shouted as she left Raphael and ran to Shredder's aid.

Shiru, Bradford and Xever did the same leaving the equally stunned turtles in their place.

"Whoa…" Mikey said as he walked to his brother Donnie.

Before Karai could touch Shredder, Maika dropped down, landing on her feet, and punched Karai to the elevator shaft. She then took a turn for Xever and Bradford sending them flying to what's left of the receptionist's front desk. She faced and glared at Shiru,

"How could you…" Shiru mumbled in total shock taking a step back.

"There are things and people you can't harm." She said raising her bloody arm at him.

Leo and his brothers stared at Maika's badly lacerated right arm and were most concerned for her sake.

"You've lost… you arrogant bastard." She smirked.

Shiru gritted his teeth in anger,

"You'll pay for this, you bitch!" He launched himself, sword drawn.

But she disappears from his sight, and then he felt a powerful punch to his back sending him face first to the wall of the building. Maika stood proudly as she brought her arm back to her side. Leo cautiously walked towards her, in much fear of her brother's warning that she could lose control in a fight.

"Ma… Maika?" He whispered extending an arm to her shoulder.

"Thank you for coming..." She said giving him a faint smile.

"We… we couldn't just leave you." Leo mumbled still shaken up.

Maika smirked, as she started to walk towards him and his brothers.

"Can I have my sword now?" she asked holding out her hand to him.

Leo reached for it and handed it over to her,

"Is it over?" Mikey asked.

Maika looked to him with calm eyes. Then suddenly, Shiru came out of the rubble and launched himself at them. He swung his sword at Maika, but Maika saw it and stopped it with her undrawn sword, blocking the move with the sheath of her sword. The guys panicked as Maika held Shiru back; they readied their weapons to fight alongside her but,

"No!" Maika shouted throwing Shiru back a few meters away.

"Get out of here now." She glared at the enraged Shiru.

"What!" they all reacted at her command.

"We are not leaving you here with this nutjob!" Raph barked.

"His fight is with me, you have nothing to do with this." Maika said.

"No, he hurt April and I want to take him down for it." Donnie said gripping his bo staff tighter.

"He wants me, it's time I end his rage for me and my family." Maika said unsheathing her sword.

"Maika, I…" Leo said but was too concerned to say everything.

"I'll meet you outside." Maika smirked.

"But…" Mikey frowned.

"Let's go." Leo said placing his swords back and running towards the door.

His brothers hesitated but marched out anyway.

"You better come out soon or else I'll come at you again, you hear me!" Leo shouted.

Maika's smirked turned to a faint smile as she gripped her sword and its sheath in both hands.

"Bad idea, you're going to need their help if you ever want to finish me off." Shiru threatened.

"All I need is my own strength nothing more, Shiru." She said in a calm tone.

He was taking her confidence in a bad way and attacked relentlessly trying to wound her with his sword. But her calm disposition that fight and her ability to see through her opponent's attacks were giving her a tall leverage against him. She leaped a good distance away from him,

"It's over Shiru…" she said.

"Not till one of us dies!" Shiru launched himself, sprinting towards her.

But she slows every movement in her mind; she gripped the sheath of her sword. She moved underneath his first swing then swings her sword's sheath to his elbow breaking it. He dropped his sword as she moved a few stepped back. He drops to his knees and screams in agony. But he was stubborn and mindlessly attacked her again. Maika slows his kick and using the same move swings at his knee breaking the following with another move breaking his thigh. He screamed in agony and pain as his whole body dropped to the floor. Maika watched on he struggled to pick himself up off the floor. She walked towards him and kneeled by his head and she placed a hand on his forehead. Shiru's eyes shot open as her warm hand touched his cold forehead.

"You should rest now, Shiru. You don't need to fight anymore." She softly said as she gently pressed her hand.

"You're so naïve, Maika." Shiru whispered as his eyes gazed at Maika's soft stare.

"You'll never know true strength unless you kill and take down everything and everyone that stands in your way." Shiru said.

Maika smirked at him,

"You've been blinded by shredder's twisted principles." She whispered.

Shiru raised his good hand and placed it on hers, his tears began to fall from his eyes,

"What are you waiting for? Kill me." he said glaring at her stare through his blurring eyes.

"No Shiru, I'm not like you. I won't take your life, you've live through enough pain as it is. I won't add to your pain, I want to relieve you from it. You have to see that there are people who really care about you." Maika said sliding her hand to his flushed cheek.

"It's too late for me, Maika. I've chained myself to hell and I won't be able to break free of it in time. But…" Shiru cupped Maika's face with one hand,

"Thank you for letting me know you still care for me."

Maika smiled at him, something she rarely does and rarely shows.

"I never stopped looking for the old us." She said.

Shiru's hand dropped to the side, his eyes were at finally resting as they closed. He was cold to her touch but he looked warm with a smile on his face as he was finally at peace.

Maika stood up and started to walk away slowly.

But she was confronted by Xever and Bradford. She showed them nothing but a stoic face,

"You're not going anywhere princess." Bradford said.

"I beg to differ." She said.

There was huge explosion in the floors above them, large debris started to fall down on top of them.

"You're insane, how could you even think to blow up this place!" Xever said avoiding debris.

Maika punched the two to the elevator shaft,

"I'm making sure the foot's kingdom goes down." Maika answered.

Then they heard the elevator ding, a few kraang droids opened the elevator doors,

"Come this way, the people who call themselves the foot. Kraang will take you to a place where you will be safe from this place." One said gesturing to them to the elevator.

Maika has run out of energy and has lost plenty of blood. Her vision became hazy and blurry as she looked to the floor. She dropped to her knees then to the floor. She raised her head and her last sights were of Bradford and Xever carrying the shredder inside the elevator leaving with Karai and the kraang droids. Her vision blurred and finally blackened,

"I'm sorry Leo…" she mumbled.

But then she could hear someone calling out her name, she tried to open her eyes and saw nothing but flashes of green.

"I got you, Maika." Were the words she heard clearly from a familiar voice and familiar warmth.

The battle was ended as the building crumbled into rubble in matter of minutes.


	8. Chapter 8:The Game and her Plan

Chapter 8: The Game and her Plan

The rain has finally stopped. His strong arms cradled her as they made their way back home underneath the city. She remained unconscious since he pulled her out of the collapsing building,

"Leo, when is she gonna wake up?" Mikey innocently asked walking by his side.

"I don't know little brother." Leo whispered feeling just as bad as the rest of them were.

They've reached the entrance to their lair. They were greeted by their father and friend.

"Oh guys, you saved her!" April cheered as she sprinted towards them.

"She's not out of it yet April, she wounded pretty bad and she lost a lot of blood." Leo said carefully placing Maika on their couch.

April brought out Maika's phone and called her brother for help,

"Itachi-san… hi, it's me. We have Maika back, but she's wounded and she lost a lot of blood. Should we get her to the hospital?" April said putting the phone on speaker.

"No! She'll go berserk when she's brought to the hospital without me by her side." Itachi said

The guys looked at each other in a comic disbelief,

"Uh… search her pouch; there should be a red pill bottle." Itachi said.

Donnie retrieved her pouch and opened it, searching through the weapons for the bottle.

"Got it." Donnie said giving the bottle to April.

"Okay Itachi-san, now what?" she said.

"I can't tell how much blood she lost so we can't give her an exact amount, but let her take one just to close the wound." Itachi said.

April opened the pill bottle and followed his instructions.

"Itachi-san, what does the pill do?" Donnie asked holding the phone as April let Maika take the small green pill in her mouth.

"The pill is a military grade medicine my mother developed it for my father when they were both in the military force. It can rapidly close an open wound no matter how bad it is by making the blood clot faster than normal." Itachi answered.

"What about the blood she lost, Itachi-san?" Leo asked.

"You have to feed her one pill at a time every hour for the next three hours. The medicine will help speed up the production of blood in her bone marrow. But keep watching her and don't let her get up for at least 12 hours. She's very stubborn so keep an eye out for her, she could try and escape." Itachi warned.

"Alright Itachi-san, she swallowed the pill" April smiled.

"Tell me, how bad was it?" Itachi asked.

"Well, Itachi-san, are you sure?" April asked first,

"I've seen Maika go through a lot of fights in school and a lot more injuries from her training. I'm sure I can handle it." Itachi reassured.

April and the brothers narrated everything they knew of the battle that just happened. Maika was awake in her subconscious and she was in her paradise. She was sitting under a cherry tree,

"So Maika, what is it with you and Leo?"

"That's none of your business Shiru…" Maika said.

"Why not…? It seems like you already like him." Shiru teased appearing by her side sitting with her.

"He's a friend dude…" Maika said.

"Yeah right, he's probably saved your life a few times now. I think it would be best if you somehow repay him." Shiru grinned.

"You're an idiot, even here." Maika smirked as he slowly disappeared.

"How are you doing, sweetheart?"

"I'm okay mom, how about you and dad? Are you both doing okay?" Maika said.

"We're doing fine, princess. See you haven't changed since the last time we were with you."

"What are you talking about dad? I've gotten stronger since the last time we sparred." Maika defended.

"Alright honey, we believe you. You don't need to kick your dad's butt to prove yourself." Her mother said throwing an arm by Maika's shoulder.

"Thanks mom, I miss you and dad so much." Maika said.

"Take care of yourself and your brother for me, princess. I love you, we both do." Her father said as they both slowly disappeared.

Maika was beginning to wake up, she slowly opened her eyes. She was greeted by blue eyes that was doing nothing but staring at her. Then she saw the rest of the face, an innocent smile from the childish turtle she has befriended.

"Mikey?" she whispered.

"Hey guys! She's awake!" Mikey shouted.

April and Donnie got out of the lab in rush to see her, Raph and Leo got out of the dojo with splinter just as Mikey was helping Maika sit upright.

"Maika, you're awake, you're okay." April said giving her a gentle embrace.

"How long was I out?" Maika asked.

"A few hours, you were really knocked out of it." Mikey grinned.

"Are you feeling okay?" Leo asked.

"I'm okay, just still a little disoriented." Maika answered rubbing her head.

"Your brother said you should rest for at least 12 hours, you should resume lying down." Splinter said.

"My brother should now me better than that." Maika pried herself to stand on her own two feet.

"This time you are not escaping from me Maika." Leo said placing his hands on her shoulder and gently pushing her back down to sit.

"Stay still and rest." He said…

"Fine, but can I at least play a game?" Maika sulked.

"What game?" Leo asked as they all curiously stared at her.

Donnie dug his old toy chest in his room for the board game Maika asked, an old chess set.

"I wonder why Maika wants to play chess. You'd think she'd be more concerned with the explanation with how we found her." Leo said as he stood by the door.

"You're right, but chess is a good way to keep your mind active. Maybe she just doesn't want to be bored." Donnie answered as he stepped out of his room with the game in his hands.

Donnie set up the chess set and faced Maika in a match,

"You should know that I've never lost a chess match Maika." Donnie proudly declared as he positioned his pieces on the board and the rest of them sat by their side to watch.

"Who have you been playing against?" Maika asked setting up her pieces.

"Leo for most of the time, he was the easiest to teach. Raph and Mikey were hopeless in learning such a complex game." Donnie said.

"Hey I know the goal of the game; you take the other side down." Raph aggressively declared.

"I'm telling you know what I said before Raph, it's not that easy. You ignored the rules and moved the pieces the wrong ways." Donnie said.

"You're right there is more to this game than the goal." Maika smirked.

"So why did you choose this game Maika? We could've just played cards so all of us can play." Mikey asked.

"It's about time I explain everything to you guys." Maika said placing a pawn two steps in front.

"Explain what?" Leo asked as Donnie placed a knight on his first move.

"You guys never questioned yourself why I let myself get captured like that? Or why I would write that in my book and placed it on my bed like that?" Maika said.

"First of all you were captured; it wasn't on our minds why you were to leave your book for us like that." April said.

"So why…?" Raph asked.

"To play a game of chess you have to first identify your pieces and how they work. Let me ask you this, who do you think are the kings on this game?" Maika asked holding out her black king piece from the board.

"Well the shredder could be the other one and I'm guessing master splinter is our king." Mikey answered.

"Correct, so the goal was always to protect master Hamato from shredder and his foot clans." Maika said placing it back on the board.

"Does that mean you were the queen?" Leo asked.

"Not at first, I'm this pawn right here." Maika placed a finger to the first piece she moved.

"Why…? It would have been cooler if you were a queen." Mikey said.

"Let's just take it one move at a time, Mikey. I consider Shiru to be one of shredder's knights." Maika said referring to Donnie's knight.

"Why…?" Donnie asked.

"He wasn't as free as he thought was. He's been restricted to move only a few places. He can't attack unless his opponents are in the right places on the board." Maika explained.

The game went on with both Maika and Donnie moving pieces through the board, Donnie's knight whom Maika dubbed as Shiru ate 4 of her pawns.

"So where is this in your plan?" Raph asked uncharacteristically watching the game.

"He has four of my pawns; he has thinned my front lines." Maika said

"Your classmates and your brother…" April said.

"Correct, as much as I don't like sacrificing people in a battle. Shiru got to them to rattle my cage. And he wants me on their side." Maika said.

Move after move, the guys were finally realizing. Maika began to tell her story,

"The day I met April, I found a lot more about the foot. Of course looking for master Hamato was a long shot, I can never find a guy who doesn't want to be found. So finding him was a lucky break. That morning, I found the foot clan's nest but I didn't attack because I saw that his army got bigger." Maika said.

"He did join forces with the kraang." Mikey said.

"Right, of course I'm not as mindless in battle as you think. I needed an army of my own, that's where you guys come in." Maika said.

"Cool! What piece am I?" Mikey enthusiastically asked.

"You are a tower, Michelangelo. Raphael and Leonardo are my knights and Donatello is a bishop." Splinter answered.

"Now, here comes the fun part. I left my book as a clue because all that time I am the only one who knew and who could calculate what happens next. A little something I learned from a family friend who taught me how to play chess. I think master Hamato knows who I am talking about." Maika smirked.

"I believe I do." Splinter smiled.

Everyone paid attention to the board.

"By letting Shiru take me back to their lair…" Maika moved her pawn to Donnie's side of the board.

"It gave me an advantage of crossing over enemy territory, I got closer to the king and I can now move however I want because I've been promoted to a queen."

Donnie stared at his pieces; he can't really move anything because Maika's other pieces would just eat them.

"Tell me, who did you fight at TCRI?" Maika asked.

"Well, I fought Fishface, Leo fought Shiru, Donnie fought Karai and Mikey fought Dogpound." Raph answered.

"Now look at the board." Maika said.

"I see now…" Donnie saw the pieces and saw Maika's advantage over him and made a safe move.

"Good move, but the game is over." Maika said.

Donnie looked at her confused,

"You're not as good as you thought Donnie. The king has been captured." Maika moved herself, her piece towards a very open white king.

"What… how was that possible?" he asked scratching the top of his head.

"You were distracted with all the other pieces that you forgot the most important piece of them all." Maika said.

Donnie shook his head in disappointment,

"Now look at the paths I can make with my piece alone." Maika said.

Everyone saw it, the queen's path was directly over Donnie's remaining pieces.

"So was this our plan all along?" April said.

"I'm not as good as my uncle who can think up of 200 strategy plans even in a time of great emergencies. I thought of everything up as I went along." Maika said fixing the pieces back onto their right positions.

"Even the part where you were tortured and almost killed?" Leo asked.

"It was a drastic and stupid move I know, but it was the only way to make them think for a moment that they had the upper hand." Maika answered.

"Cool…" Mikey said.

"It worked out great right? Even blowing the building up worked perfectly for an ending." Maika said.

"Still it was a stupid move like you said." Leo said.

"So what happens now?" Raph asked.

"He got away with his henchmen. But it will take a long time for him to recover." Maika said.

"Bring it on! With you fighting with us we're unstoppable." Mikey said pumping his fist above his head.

"I am only here for the next month Mikey, I have to go back home and be with my brother." Maika said.

"Well that sucks; I really wanted you to stay with us." Mikey brought his arms back down.

"Well she is going to spend the next month with us. That should be enough time for us to have the time of our lives." April smiled.

Maika was getting the same feeling that her classmates wanted to show her,

"Right, Maika?" everyone looked at her with eager eyes and all she could do was faintly smiled back.

After a while, they all decided to watch a movie to spend time. They all sat down in front of the T.V. and played a movie Mikey picked which was Coraline.

As the movie was playing, Raphael was bored with the lack of action and violence, the others were seemingly enjoying but Mikey was happily smiling at the screen.

"Wow, hey Donnie can you build a door to another lair?" he asked.

"You're kidding, right?" Donnie said skeptically staring at his imaginative little brother.

"I want to meet the other us, with buttons for eyes." Mikey said.

"Maybe I should go there too to see if Mikey doesn't talk in that world. He'd be less annoying." Raph said.

Everyone giggled as Mikey comically glared at his rude brother. As the movie end credits rolled Maika was leaning on the side of the couch looking at messaged she missed on her phone and everyone else was asleep in their place on the floor. She read her brother's messages,

"Everyone just woke up and they're all looking for you here in the hospital. They really miss you and they're asking when you're going to be back."

"I heard the story from April and master Hamato. I hope you're okay. Please be okay. Call me if you can as soon as possible. I really want to hear your voice."

As Maika was dialing Itachi's number to call him, she suddenly felt weights on her right lap and left shoulder. The young turtle with the orange masked has slid and rested his head on her lap; he was smiling as he snuggled on her skin. The turtle that was concerned for her the most leaned against her and placed his head on her shoulder and he looked so peaceful. She just texted her brother,

"I'll call you when it's daytime here big bro, it's been a long couple of days. I wish to stay here a little longer. I don't want to disappoint the guys here. They've come to like me and I've come to like them also. I miss you too. I love you bro I'll see you soon. I promise to bring you back a souvenir."

She closed her phone and closed her eyes to sleep; suddenly she felt her hand being grabbed by something. She gazed at the big green hand that held her hand. She smiled at the gesture and then closed her eyes. After a while, Leo opened his eyes. He looked around with his eyes. Everyone he wanted to protect was sleeping soundly by his side. He shifted a gaze at the girl he was leaning on. He was captivated by her angel like face. He slowly lifted himself from her shoulder. He wasn't careful enough as Maika woke up suddenly at the sudden loss of the head supporting her head.

"I'm sorry…" Leo whispered.

She stared at his with soft, half asleep eyes,

"Don't be, I haven't thanked you yet for being there for me." Maika whispered back.

"It was no problem, as a ninja we have to look out for each other." Leo smiled.

"No, you showed me your strength as something more than a ninja." Maika said.

Leo stared at her with questioning eyes; Maika fell back to unconsciousness and rested her head on his shoulder. To him it was like a first what he saw her do it and he froze and blushed furiously. After a while, Maika was totally asleep and Leo finally relaxed himself and wrapped his arms around her like before. She snuggled herself on his plastron and felt his warm as he rested his head on her head. The night ended with everyone smiling and dreaming.


	9. Extra Chapter: Girl's Best Day Out

Extra Chapter: Girl's best day out, Boy's worst night in

After a few days, Maika has finally recovered and she has been hanging out with the turtles and April in the lair. One weekend as she and April were meditating in the dojo, they were interrupted by the guys outside playing with a basketball.

"Pass it to me! Pass it to me!" Mikey shouted jumping from behind Donnie.

Raph passed the ball and hit Maika's head as she was coming out of the dojo. Everyone stopped and stared frightfully at Maika's stoic face.

"Uh Maika, we weren't interrupting were we." Leo slyly smiled.

"You guys are so annoying! We were meditating in there." April said walking by Maika and glaring at them.

"Sorry April we were just…" Donnie said rubbing the back of his head.

"We have to go anyway, come on April." Maika said as she led April to the entrance of the lair.

"Wait, where are you girls going?" Mikey asked.

"We need a weekend to ourselves so Maika and I won't be coming down here for the next couple of days. She's training me and we'll be hanging out together." April answered.

"So you're not coming down here at all?" Donnie echoed in disbelief.

"No, see you guys. Make sure you don't kill each other while were gone." Maika said as she and April exited to the surface.

"What did she mean don't kill each other while they're gone?" Raph asked as his brothers stared back and shrugged.

Outside, April and Maika has finally got out through a subway entrance.

"Alright! The sun feels so great don't you think so Maika?" April said stretching herself as she and Maika walked through the busy sidewalk.

"I know, I was feeling so stuffy down there." Maika said reaching for her phone in her pocket.

"So did Itachi-san text you yet on how soon he's going to land?" April asked.

"Not yet, but he should land in a few hours." Maika answered.

"Cool, I can't wait to meet him." April said.

"Yeah, just be careful around him. He can get too overexcited on things." Maika warned.

"He can't be that bad." April said.

"Oh you'll see when he gets here." Maika said.

"So where do you want to go first?" April asked.

"We are training, aren't we?" Maika smirked.

Hours later, back at the lair, in Donnie's lab,

"There are no signs of any bad activity yet." Donnie said as he faced his monitor full of live street footage.

Leo was pacing around the lab,

"Leo, you're making me dizzy. Stop walking around like that." Raph said.

"What's up Leo?" Donnie asked.

"Something's been bothering me." Leo said facing his brothers.

"What is it?" Donnie asked.

Before Leo could answer,

"Hey guys, what's the happs?" Mikey entered Donnie's lab with a plate of chocolate cake.

"What are you eating?" Raph asked staring at Mikey's hand.

Mikey took a bite with his fork,

"Maika left me her last piece of cake." Mikey answered through bites.

The guys looked at each other,

"No, she left it to me." They all said in unison.

Then they all glared at each other,

"Don't be an idiot, she left it to me." The four of them were in perfect chorus.

They started comically arguing and fighting, throwing their fists and feet at each other as they tried to pry the plate off Mikey's hands.

Meanwhile, April and Maika were coming out of the mall with a few shopping bags on each arm.

"That was so fun! Finally a girl I can shop with." April grinned.

"All we bought was food." Maika said.

"Still, it was fun, admit it." April said.

"Okay fine, it was. And the guys are going to love dinner for tonight." Maika said opening her bag with the ingredients.

Then Maika's phone rang,

"Come on; let's drop these off at my place. We have to get my brother." Maika said as they flagged down a taxi on the street.

Back at the lair, the guys have gone totally insane. Their solution was to fight out the strongest and their price was the piece of cake with a bite out of it. They kept it under a transparent glass bowl and in the fridge. They were at the dojo ready to fight things out.

"That piece of delicious cake is mine!" Mikey shouted wearing a metal pot on his head and waving a wooden spoon in his hand.

"Shut up Mikey! She left that for me!" Raph debated back as he stood on his corner of the dojo and protected himself with a table on its side.

"Enough talk, let's just do this!" Leo said as he charged at his brothers.

At the airport, Maika searched the lobby for her brother,

"What does he look like?" April asked as she raised her head and shifted her gaze from one direction to the other.

"Uh, if I know my brother, he's…"

"Maika over here, over here!"

Maika and April looked the tall guy waving his hand.

"Dressed in a very, very eye catching manner." Maika whispered as she awkwardly smiled.

Her brother was dressed in a Hawaiian red with yellow flowers, a straw hat, dark shade sunglasses, camouflage parachute shorts and he had a huge mountaineer's pack on his back as he lugged another suit case and a travel bag. Maika and April approached him,

"Not that this isn't weird or anything but what are you wearing?" Maika asked.

"What, I look the part. I'm in America!" Itachi grinned.

"Oookay, well we should get out of here and take you back home before people mistake you for an insane person and take you to a mental hospital." Maika grabbed her brother's hand and pulled him through the entrance.

"Hi, Itachi-san, I'm April. I've been the one you've been talking to for the past days." April said walking beside Itachi.

"Oh yeah, nice to meet you April-chan. So, where are master Hamato and his sons? I really wanted to see them here with you guys." Itachi said.

"Well, you'll see them very soon. They're not really a "day-out" kind of family." April answered.

"Oh wow, well anyway, I can't wait to see them." Itachi said as they all got into a cab and headed to Maika's apartment.

Back in the lair, the guys had enough of battling for the cake so they've decided that as ninjas they were to play a game of steal the treasure. They were all in their rooms concocting a plan to steal the cake from under the other's noses.

Maika, April and Itachi began to explore the city first as requested by the two girls. Itachi didn't mind because he was planning on going himself with them in the next few weeks he and Maika were going to be there. They spent the entire afternoon going to museums, restaurants and parks and Itachi got all their photos on his, Maika's and April's phone. As the night came in, the three of them were at Murokami's buying take out for dinner,

"Maybe we should get back now and check in with master splinter." April said.

"Yeah, and the guys haven't even sent me a message the whole day." Maika said.

"So do you think it worked?" April asked with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Oh yeah…" Maika answered with the same smile.

Itachi got their take out,

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Murokami-san" Itachi bowed as he took the paper bag from the chef.

"No problem and welcome to New York. Make sure you don't freak out with the people you are about to meet." Murokami smiled.

Itachi raised a questioning brow at the blind man and the girls just smiled at the warning. As they walked out of the store,

"What did he mean by that?" Itachi asked his little sister.

"You'll see…" Maika answered.

They made their way back through the subway. Itachi wandered but went along and trusted the girls as they weaved through the abandoned part of the subway system underneath the city. As they got to the lair, the girls stopped by the entrance and stared blankly at the living room where the guys were tangled with themselves.

"Told you it would work…" April said.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Raph asked as he pushed his brothers off him and onto the floor.

The others groaned in pain before picking themselves up from the floor.

"This was a test as requested by master Splinter." Maika said.

"A test…? Really…?" Donnie asked.

"That's right, a test of self-control." Splinter said coming out of the dojo.

"So did we pass?" Leo awkwardly asked.

"No, well not really considering you nearly killed each other over a cake that master splinter already ate while all of you were playing defense in your rooms." Maika answered.

The guys looked at their master in disbelief that he already ate the cake.

"Aw man, that was messed up." Mikey said throwing himself on the couch as he sulked his defeat.

"Don't worry about it. As a reward for not truly killing each other, I will make another cake for all of us to enjoy and I brought someone here who will cook us dinner." Maika smirked.

Itachi came walking in but was looking at the opposite side,

"Hey, I almost lost you at that turn. Did you guys see that subway car outside, it looked so cool and it has monster wheels I wonder who built it, I have to say this is a very cool place to live I mean its…" as Itachi faced front he froze at the sight of new and strange faces. The guys stared back in confusion as well,

"Uh, hello…?" Itachi raised a hand.

"I think he's freaking out on the inside." April whispered over to Maika.

"This is really getting awkward." Maika whispered back.

"Ah Itachi-kun, it's been a long time. You've gotten bigger since the last time I saw you." Splinter cut in and approached to greet Itachi.

Itachi was still in awe as the master rat walked to him. He grabbed his hand and shook it,

"It's been a while too master Hamato, you've changed as well since the last time I saw you." He awkwardly smiled.

"You look like your father with your mother's beautiful green eyes." Splinter said as they walked to the middle of the lair.

"Thank you…" Itachi smiled as he sat down on the couch.

"Nice to meet you Itachi-san, I am Leonardo." Leo introduced as he walked in front of Itachi.

"Leo… I'm guessing these are your sons, master?" Itachi asked the man by his side.

"Yes, these are Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo." Splinter introduced as the guys presented themselves in such order.

"Alright then, how about I start on that dinner? I've been told you miss the taste of home so I'm planning to make a traditional Japanese dinner with my modern recipe, is that okay with you?" Itachi asked.

"Of course, it is alright." Splinter smiled.

"Okay then, Maika, April, will you two help me?" He said.

Maika and April carried the bags towards the kitchen as they led Itachi to it. When they turned the corner,

"That was… awkward." Donnie said.

"I have nothing to say, dudes." Mikey said.

In the kitchen, Itachi was shaking,

"Are you okay, Itachi-san?" April asked placing the bags on the table.

"Uh, I just saw giant talking animals… I'm extremely freaking out." Itachi quivered as he sat down on one of the stools.

"Come on, you've seen grandma Tsunade naked in the hot bath, nothing should scare you now." Maika said.

Itachi shivered even more at the sight of the memory of his grandmother's naked body.

"Can you please stop reminding me about it!" Itachi shouted.

"How about I call master splinter and let him tell you the story?" April said.

"Good idea, please go get him." Maika said.

While Itachi prepare the food and Splinter tell the story in the kitchen, the guys were in the living room,

"So, about that test…" Leo said.

Maika was petting a black cat she and April found that day.

"Don't even worry about it, it was nothing but a test." Maika said.

"I can't believe you would let us fight like that." Raph said as he punched the dummy harder.

"It wasn't our idea Raph, it was splinter's idea." April defended.

"Alright stop it you guys, the good thing is that it is over." Donnie said.

"Well anyway, you guys should know that there are things you can't hide from a girl's intuition." Maika said as the cat slept on her lap and she continued to pet its silky black fur.

"I can't believe you guys would kill each other for cake." April said.

"Maybe you've forgotten April, it was Maika's cake." Mikey defended.

"And I understand how you guys feel about it and its deliciousness, but still…" April said.

"Guys dinner is ready!" Itachi shouted from the kitchen.

Maika and the guys went over to the kitchen and they were very surprised at the very nice set up on their table. During dinner they told more stories and explained everything to the confused boys. After dinner,

"One of the most awesome foods I've ever tasted." Mikey cheered rubbing his belly in satisfaction.

"Thank you for the meal, Itachi-san." Leo said.

"You're welcome; I've certainly never imagined anyone but my family enjoying my cooking." Itachi said.

"What are you talking about, big bro? Everyone loves your food." Maika said.

Itachi blushed as he finished his plate of dessert. Then April came rushing in and wrapped arms around Maika's neck.

"Come on, let's go dig out the things we bought today." She grinned.

Maika carried her new cat in her arms and went with April to a corner where they placed their stuff.

"I thought they went training today?" Donnie asked his brothers.

"It looks like they had a girl's day out and they left us to have a worst one in here." Leo said.

"That is so unfair, when can we have a boy's day out?" Mikey said.

His brothers and Itachi all stared at him,

"What'd I say?" he asked.


	10. Extra Chapter: Horror of Tunnel 113

This is where my damn crazy imagination takes a very weird turn... and by that I mean a very weird turn... Please don't judge me! ^w^

* * *

Extra Chapter: The Horror of Tunnel 113

One night as Leo, Donnie and Raphael were watching TV, they were interrupted when a sudden,

"AAAHHHHH!"

They all turned to their heads to the way of their bedrooms and they hurriedly got off their butts and rushed to the open bedroom. Inside Maika was sitting on a stool by Mikey's bedside and Mikey and April were on his bed. Mikey was wrapped in his blanket shivering with a very fearful face.

"What's going on here?" Leo asked.

"Maika was just telling a scary story." April answered.

"What…? How could you do that? Mikey is the easiest person to scare. He's going to have nightmares again." Raph complained as they went in his room.

"Hey! I am not scared." Mikey defended pulling his covers off him.

"You screamed and I didn't even get to the scariest part yet." Maika said.

"What was the story you were telling him?" Donnie asked interested in Maika's story.

"Close the door and I'll tell you guys too." Maika smirked.

The guys sat on the floor,

"I was watching a show the other night and it was about an abandoned section of the subway tracks underneath the city. Tunnel 113…" Maika narrated as she walked towards the wall with the light switch.

The lights went out that made Mikey squeal and grab on to his big brother, Raphael who, in turn, pried him off himself.

"They say that the tracks were closed down because a lot of the trains that go through never make their way to the other side." Maika's voice started circling around the dark room, freaking the guys out.

April moved towards Donnie and sought for his comfort.

"And one time a group of amateur paranormal investigators who were all teenagers decided to spend a night and prove the mysterious phenomenon. But they all disappeared one by one…" the guys huddled together in fear as they searched for Maika in the shadows of the room.

"And then when the last one was taken, she saw it…"

"S…saw wha…what?" Mikey's voice shivered.

"A ghost!" Maika appeared in the middle of their huddle and they freaked out and jumped on the bed and huddled again.

"…the ghost of the little girl who survived a train crash that happened years ago and got lost in the tunnels wounded and died in silence hugging her blood soaked teddy bear." Maika finished as she turned the light back on again.

The guys were still frozen in fear,

"Come on guys, it was just a story." Raph smirked hiding his fear.

They slowly got off the bed with their eyes still full of fear.

"Now I know I won't sleep tonight." Mikey shivered wrapping himself with his blanket again.

"Fine, to make up for telling the story, I'm going to stay here tonight." Maika crossed her arms.

"Can you stay here in my room?" Mikey grinned as his brothers and April stared.

"How about we all just sleep outside?" Maika said.

"Deal…" April said as her arms were still around Donnie's.

The next few hours, the guys were just hanging in the living room. Maika was on her laptop,

"What are you searching for?" Leo asked sitting next to her.

"Tunnel 113 stuff, I want to go there." Maika answered.

Leo stared in confusion,

"You're kidding right?" he said.

"No I'm not…" she stared back.

"Why would you want to do that?" Leo asked.

"It's in my bucket list, be a paranormal investigator." Maika answered.

Leo stared in disbelief,

"You're still kidding right?" he said.

"Found a map to it. I'm going there tonight; you want to come with me?" Maika asked.

Leo retreated himself and stared back asking the question for the third time.

"You're kidding right?"

Maika closed her laptop,

"How about it fearless leader, you want to go for it?" Maika smirked.

"Gee, I'd love to but unlike you I don't believe in stuff like that." Leo said.

"Then there's nothing for you to lose if you come with me." Maika said.

"But there's nothing in it for me. What do I get if I go with you?" Leo asked.

"Well, what do you want?" Maika asked.

Leo smirked in response. After a while, Maika was with Donnie in his lab to let him modify her phone for her paranormal investigation. Donnie found it absurd that someone like her would believe in things without a scientific proof but he couldn't deny her challenge, if she brings back proof that ghost exists he would design her a new ninja weapon. Leo was in the dojo with April, who was doing drills,

"I don't see your problem Leo, you said it yourself you want to get to know her better and be close to her." April said as she practiced striking with Leo's help.

"I know I said that but, what if I feel nervous and mess it up?" Leo asked blocking April's punches and kicks.

"You won't, just be yourself and don't try so hard to be cool." April said.

"Man, is this how all relationship starts?" Leo asked.

"What did you expect? She'll fall for you in an instant? You're not that too easy on the eyes, you have to give her time to see pass that." April asked.

"Girls are very hard to understand." Leo mumbled shifting a gaze to the side.

April heard it loud and clear and did an unexpected move; she grabbed her tessen and hit Leo's head then flipped him to his back by sweeping his feet off the floor. As Leo was picking himself up,

"And boys are too stupid to understand us." April smirked fanning herself with her metal fan.

Leo's head dropped to the floor again as he groaned in pain,

"Just go with it." She smiled as she walked away.

Leo slammed his palm in his forehead and stared at the light on the ceiling. April went to join Maika in Donnie's lab,

"I can't believe I'm doing this for you." Donnie complained as he poked Maika's phone circuits with one of his instruments.

"I know you're just as curious as I am about this, genius." Maika said staring at some of Donnie's inventions.

"No I'm not, I am a scientist and everything I do and believe is based on scientific facts that have been proven." Donnie defended.

"Really…?" Maika said as she raised a questioning brow at him.

Donnie stared but shrugged it off,

"So… I'm finished. I've added the EMF detector in your phone and I've upgraded your voice recorder so it picks up low frequency sounds and to your request a night vision camera." He explained.

"Cool, are you ready for your date with Leo?" April said.

Donnie stared and whipped his head to Maika who was good at hiding expression as she showed nothing but a stoic face.

"Yeah, you can say that…" She smirked.

"Aren't you going with her April?" Donnie asked.

"I want to but I have trigonometry homework." April said with a disappointed face.

"Want me to help you with it?" Donnie offered.

"Thanks Don…" April smiled, she captivated him, like she always does with him, and he slightly drooled.

Maika stepped out of Donnie's lab and saw Leo packing his swords, she approached him.

"What are you going to do? Slash the ghost back to the underworld?" she teased.

"You're one to talk considering you're taking your sword too and other weapons in your pouch. Besides, we could be dealing with something other than ghosts." Leo smirked.

Maika raised a mocking eyebrow,

"Just saying it could be something else down there." He said.

"Whatever let's just go." Maika said walking towards the entrance.

"Aren't we going to call the others?" Leo asked.

Maika faced back,

"April and Donnie are doing homework, I don't want to traumatized Mikey and Raph is uninterested and preferred to read comics in his room." Maika answered.

"So it really is just the two of us?" Leo blushed.

"Yeah…" Maika answered.

Leo started fantasizing, staring blankly into the distance,

"Leo we have to go." Maika said.

Leo snapped out of it and awkwardly walked by Maika's side. As they disappeared from the entrance the others went out of their rooms.

"Well I hope Leo messes this one up." Raph said jumping on the couch and turning the TV on.

"How could you say that? He's not going to mess this up." April proudly said as she slouched on the floor and opened her books.

"This is Leo we're talking about, the only time he did anything cool was…"

Everyone waited for him to finish his sentence,

"Actually I can't remember when he was cool." Raph said.

"That's why no one likes you man, you're so insensitive." Mikey said.

Raph balled his fist at his younger brother as he screamed and covered his face with his palms.

"Stop it, will you. He will be fine." April said.

Maika and Leo were walking in the railway tunnels, there was silence as Maika followed the map on her phone and Leo just kept walking behind her,

"So… Maika, are you feeling any eerie sensations now?" Leo asked.

"Do you really want to know the answer to that?" Maika asked back.

"Why…? Is there?" Leo asked.

"For the last couple of meters there's been a shadow tailing you. It's detached from you so it's not yours." Maika answered.

Leo jumped to her side in fright as he searched for the shadow. Maika let out a small giggle,

"Not funny…" Leo said as he breathed out relief.

"It was very funny." Maika smirked as she continued walking with Leo closer to her side.

They were entering the dark and abandoned tunnels. They turned their flashlights on and continued walking,

"I see you are afraid of ghosts." She said starting a conversation.

"No I'm not." Leo defended.

"Really, well is there anything you're afraid of?" Maika asked.

"Why, so you could use it against me?" Leo said.

"Well, maybe. But no, you want to get to know me better, right?" Maika said.

Leo stared and wandered why she knew,

"I guess when you want to get to know me, it's vice versa. So let me start over, are you even afraid of anything?" She said.

"Well if you mean irrational fear, then I can't think of any. How about you, is there anything you're afraid?" he asked.

"Mostly spiders, other than that nothing else." She answered.

"Man, if it's like Raph's cockroach fear then I don't blame you." He said.

"Raph has fear of cockroaches? Interesting…" she said.

"Now, can I ask you a personal question?" he asked.

Maika stared in response,

"It's about Shiru…"

"What about him?" she asked.

"Before the building collapsed I saw you and him, and I just want to know what happened between you two." He said.

Maika trusted Leo enough to start explaining herself to him,

"Shiru wasn't always like that. He was once my friend too. When we were little our dads were partners in the police department and they would take us with them to work and we'd start playing together like siblings. One time in elementary school, he jumped in when a few of the older kids tried to attack me. He took a hit for me but thanks to my training I was the one who defended him in the end. We started taking lessons at my uncle's dojo. We were closer than friends, we were like family." She narrated.

"But why did he come after you?" he asked.

"One night, I was walking home with him from school. When we reached his neighborhood there were police cars blocking the streets, officers were dragging a suspect in a department sabotage controversy and it was his father, a fellow officer. We were both in shock as my father stood by the gate watching his partner get dragged off in hand cuffs. Shiru was never the same since, because of that he stayed away from people who wanted to help him. Weeks after his dad was convicted and imprisoned, his mother was diagnosed with a severe case of cancer. My mother was assigned to her, but the disease was already impossible to cure and Shiru's mother died a few days later." She said.

"And he blames your family for everything that happened to him?" he asked.

"Yes, for a while I thought I could comfort him as a friend. But that afternoon I wanted to talk to him about moving in with us, I saw him with Karai. She took him to her father and I never heard from him until he came after my parents. He was already gone. It just goes to show you, if you don't want to lose anyone then it's best to keep yourself strong to protect them." She answered.

Leo stared at her with concern. She shifted her gaze at him,

"What about you? Is there a reason you want to get strong?" she asked.

"Like you, I want to protect everyone I care for and right now it's too…"

Suddenly they heard a loud thump from behind them. They faced back and saw nothing. Maika raised her flashlight to the top of the tunnel,

"Guess we're here." She mumbled as she and Leo entered the tunnel.

"This tunnel is a mile long, how are we going to find a ghost?" Leo asked.

Then they heard movement, a screech from a distance,

"Found one…" Maika smirked as she walked slower and with caution.

"Okay great, we found one. Can we go now before something else shows up?" Leo whispered over Maika's shoulder.

Maika held her phone and started recording night vision video and recording sound. They walked more, and Leo, who was walking behind, was getting the eerie feeling that someone was watching them.

"Maika, can you feel that?" he whispered as he followed the trail of his shaking flashlight.

Maika didn't respond with words and raised her phone to the ceiling where the sight was most horrifying. Leo bumped into her as she stopped walking.

"What is it?" Leo raised his flashlight to the direction of Maika's head.

He revealed with his light, a squirming ceiling full of, large and dark eight legged arachnids.

"Sweet mother of New York…" he mumbled as he stared.

Then a spider growled and jumped onto his face. He struggled to get the spider the size of his face off his face. Maika was frozen in fear, but Leo managed to throw the spider to the wall. It got off its back and screamed at Leo before going back to the ceiling. Leo grabbed Maika and pulled her to a connecting maintenance tunnel a few meters back. He sat her down,

"Maika, snap out of it! We have to get out of here." Leo said shaking her lightly.

But she did not respond and kept a shocked face, then Leo heard loud hissing coming from the direction they came from. His head peered through the corner and saw the spiders coming at them. He got up and grabbed her hand and they made their way through the tunnels hoping to get away from the creatures coming after them. They stopped to catch their breath, Maika finally snapped out of it,

"I'm sorry I froze like that, I…"

"It's okay… let's just get out of here before those things catch up to us." Leo said in between inhales and exhales.

Maika help Leo walk, acting like a crouches she hang his arm over her shoulder and walked supporting most of his weight. Suddenly Leo became too heavy; Maika sat him against the wall.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she lifted his head with her hands.

Leo's eyes were fuzzy, his vision was blurring and he was beginning to fall into unconsciousness. Maika was beginning to worry as Leo's breathing became shallow and fast like he was having a hard time and was gasping for air. She checked all parts of him if he was bitten or struck with something. Then she saw a swollen and blackened wound on his neck.

"Oh my gosh… Leo, you've been bitten." She whispered in panic.

Then she heard the hissing noises coming towards them. With all her strength, she placed Leo's arm on her shoulder and moved towards the other direction.

"Why did it have to be spiders…" she mumbled as she basically carried Leo to safety.

They hid in a dark but deep arch in the tunnel. She sat him on the concrete carefully. When she touched his face, he was going cold and breaking out cold beads of sweat. She detached her pouch from her waist and placed it next to her,

"An infection…" she said as she searched for her phone in her pouch.

She texted her brother,

"Hey, mom's medicine works on infection right?"

"Yeah, she did make it with anti-venom. Who was bitten with what?" Itachi asked.

"Leo was bitten with a freaking giant spider. He's unconscious." Maika replied.

"Well if he's unconscious there's no point in feeding a solid pill him. He won't be able to swallow it unless you dissolve it in water and let him drink it." Itachi replied.

"Okay, thank you bro. I'm fine there's no need to worry about me or Leo." She sent.

Itachi, who has enrolled himself at a night class at a college, didn't mind and just trusted her sister and her friend. Leo groaned as he tried, with all his might, move his body. Maika faced him and placed a hand on his forehead.

"You're starting to burn up…" she mumbled as she reached with her other hand her pill bottle.

"Maika, what's going on? Why can't I move?" he whispered as he squinted to see her better in the little light from the flashlights.

"Don't try to move yet, you've been bitten while you were struggling with the spider that fell on you. You're infected." Maika whispered back as she moved his body for him.

"What…? Well then we have to get out of here now." Leo said.

"We can't, because we've travelled far from the main tunnel and we have those things coming after us. I can't… I'll freeze if we… I mean, I…" Maika said trying to fight her fear.

"Maika…" Leo whispered as his eyes were focused on hers.

"You have to go back…" he said.

Maika shook her head,

"I am not leaving you down here alone Leo, we're getting out of here, one way or another." She protested grabbing his hand.

"You can't carry me the rest of the way. You have to go and then I'll follow." Leo said as his eyes started to close and he started slipping into unconsciousness.

"No Leo, you have to trust me on this one." Maika said cupping his face to keep it straight on her.

She prepared a pill with her mouth and held it between her lips. Before Leo could slip into complete mind shut down, he felt a weight on his body and on his face particularly his lips. He pried his eyes open and saw nothing but a shadow that was too close to his vision. He opened his mouth to say something but it only allowed Maika to slip her tongue in his mouth. He swallowed at the sudden feeling. With the rest of his remaining strength, he brought an arm around her waist. She withdrew herself and cupped his face with both of her hands. His eyes were half open as they stared back to hers.

"I got you…" she whispered.

Leo passed out the next second. His eyes closed, his arms dropped to his side and his head leaned to his shoulder as Maika gently removed her hands. Then, to her surprise, there was hissing behind her. Her eyes widened as something wrapped itself around her body and pulled her into the shadows.

After a few minutes, Leo started to regain consciousness. He stretched his arms out and rubbed his eyes. At first, he thought Maika was by his side. But when he shifted his gaze to his safe side, nothing but her pouch and their lit flashlights were there. He jumped to his feet as he grabbed her stuff and began to search for her. He called her name over and over again as he made one turn after another. After a few meters of running, he was in doubt of himself if he even knows how to search for her. He stopped for a while to catch his breath, and then he remembered one of his sensei's teachings. He closed his eyes and listened for the silence. He heard hissing that was inaudible to normal hearing, when he opened his eyes he saw a shadow inside one of the tunnels. He cautiously approached it, but it moved swiftly. He started to run after it but he could never see to what the shadow starts. After a few twists and turns the shadow disappeared. Leo looked around for it but then heard something else. The hissings got louder. His head peered around the corner and saw a giant and thick spider web. Above his head was a colony of giant spiders. Then as he looked closer inside the cluster of spider web, Maika was trapped and unconscious.

"Maika…" he mumbled,

Then he heard a familiar voice coming out of one of the shadowy tunnels.

"Look boys, Dinner is served."

Leo was surprised it was one of their old enemies that escaped capture and has stayed quiet.

"Spiderbytes..." he whispered in surprise.

He figured it out, the mutant Spiderbytes is somehow responsible for the mutation of all other spiders living inside the tunnel with him. And Maika is an insect that has been caught in their trap. He withdrew his head back in the tunnel as he tried to figure out a plan to successfully rescue Maika without getting bitten by another venomous spider again. He searched for weapons in Maika's pouch and saw the metal discs that were smoke grenades. He grabbed a few to release a thick fog in the area. He threw them all at ones and they let out a thick smoke that concealed Spiderbytes' vision. He moved as fast as he can towards the nest of webs and was able to cut off Maika's restraints with one of her knives. She dropped down in his arms and they moved back to another shadowy tunnel in silence. After the smoke cleared, Spiderbytes was angry that his food has escaped.

"Find her! Kill her if you have to!" he shouted as he moved with the rest of the spiders through tunnels.

"Maika wake up, we have to get out of here." Leo whispered as he lightly shook her into consciousness.

Maika slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes.

"Leo…? You're okay…" she faintly smiled.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine… but we have to get out of here before Vic finds us and eats us." Leo said swinging her arm over her shoulders.

"We have to destroy their nest or else when they're numbers multiply they'll take over the city." Maika said pushing herself to stand up.

"What…? Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Trust me, he was ranting about it just before you came." She answered.

"Okay great, how are we going to take down hundreds of them?" he said.

Maika smirked as a response.

After a while, the spiders have gone tired scrambling themselves to look for Maika. They kept looking for her in one group. Suddenly they saw a flashlight from a distance. They walked towards it and saw her. They all hissed at her exposing their horrible fangs and yellow acid venom. Maika swallowed her fear and ran away. They all followed her on the ceiling on the walls and on the floor. Though she had the advantage on speed they had the advantage in numbers as the other spiders joined in the chase. And their leader, spiderbytes joined them,

"Don't let her get away! That's my dinner!" he shouted as his little stubby legs moved as fast as they can to move his large body.

Maika sped up, and led them to where the tunnel ended. She led them to a brick wall, and they stopped as she faced them.

"Well, it looks like you're out of room sweetheart. Lucky me…" Spiderbytes said as he walked slowly closer to her.

Leo hurriedly rushed in to protect her with his sword drawn.

"Hey, if it isn't one of the kung fu frogs. How have you been tadpole?" Spiderbytes smirked.

"It's over Spiderbytes." Leo glared.

"Over is right, looks like I get dessert and dinner tonight." Spiderbytes opened his big mouth to attack and eat them whole.

But Maika threw a smoke bomb in his mouth and detonated inside him. He stumbled back because of the pain as smoke started to come out of his mouth.

"Why you…" he charged at them.

"I don't think so big mouth." Leo smirked as he threw a ball up to the ceiling.

The spiders and spiderbytes followed it with their eyes and saw the trail of wires and rectangular paper with Japanese calligraphy written on them. Maika pressed a detonator on her phone and the ball exploded emitting a very bright light that blinded the spiders. At the moment of confusion, Maika threw a small, pea-sized ball of coal lit on fire at one of the papers which caused an explosion. The ceiling crumbled in seconds taking down and squishing groups of spiders all at once. The fire traveled on the wires and detonated the other paper. Leo and Maika hid and protected themselves in one of the small tunnels. Leo protected Maika as he used his shell against flying debris. After all the loud explosions, Maika raised her head out of her knees and faced Leo.

"It's over…" she whispered.

Leo helped her to her feet and they investigated the wreck. A lot of large debris were in the ground but no spider was seen.

"Let's go back, it's over now…" Leo said as he guided her by hand out of the mountainous wrecks and concrete.

After they cleared and were finally on solid flat ground, they looked back to make sure nothing surprises them.

"How's that for horrifying night?" Leo smirked.

Maika smirked back and she reached for her phone to take a picture of the wreck.

"What's that for?" Leo asked as they turned on their heels and walked away.

"Souvenir photo…" Maika simply answered keeping her phone.

"Okay… well I guess we should…"

Suddenly Leo lost his balance and wobbled to the side. Maika caught his hand and pulled his arm over her shoulder to support him.

"I guess the medicine I gave you wasn't as effective on mutant spider venoms." Maika said as she started to walk with some of Leo's weight again. They walked back slowly to not tire Maika.

"I am sorry about this…" Leo said.

"Don't worry about it because I was the one who dragged you to coming with me in the tunnel to hunt for ghost." Maika smirked.

"Yeah, but instead we found nothing but spiders." Leo said.

"Actually Leo, I know you or anyone won't believe me… but I saw someone." She said.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Well it's not like I see ghost all the time, but down there someone showed herself to me." She said.

"Wait… you don't mean…" Leo said.

They stopped for a while and Maika brought out her phone and showed him the last photo she took of the wreck. Leo's eyes widened as he saw a shadow standing at the end of the wreck. It's silhouette was as clear as day.

"She was there when I was looking for you." Leo smiled.

Maika stared in confusion,

"She must be the one who showed me the way back to you." He said.

"I'm still not following you. How could she have shown you the way back to me?" Maika asked taking her phone back.

"There was a shadow and I followed it back to where you were." Leo said.

"Well, a photo and an eye witness. Donnie has no chance of not believing me now." Maika smirked as she got up to her fist.

She took Leo's arm again and they walked to the lair. When they got there, the guys were, as planned, asleep in the living room.

"Guess we got in a little pass midnight." Leo whispered.

Maika walked him over to the couch and sat him down, she removed his arm and placed it by his side,

"I'm going to prepare your medicine." She said going to the kitchen to get water.

Leo watched her back disappear into the corner and he started to remember somewhat a dream he had before. He reminisce the smell, the sight and the feeling,

"Did she…" he mumbled.

"What are you thinking about?"

He whipped his head back and saw Maika standing with his blue cup filled with water.

"Nothing…" he said as Maika sat beside him.

She handed him a pill and the cup,

"Thanks, how effective is this medicine?" he asked before swallowing the pill with the water.

"Apparently mom didn't account for any mutant venom. I fed you two to make sure the venom gets neutralize completely." Maika whispered to not wake anyone.

"Thanks…" Leo said putting the cup to his side.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds,

"Maybe we should sleep now, it's really late and I promised April I'd walk her to…"

She stopped at a sudden pressure on her cheek. Leo placed a light peck on her cheek before crawling under his futon blanket. Maika froze as she gazed at the light pink on Leo's cheeks as he turned to the other side to his face. She crawled under her mattress, but stared at the ceiling. She shifted a gaze to his direction again,

"Leo…" she whispered as her own cheeks were coloring pink.

She lifted her body just as he faced her. To his surprise, she hovered above his face and pressed her lips against his. It was then that Leo realized the sensation he felt before wasn't and illusion or a dream. It was real and she did it to him before. She slid her head to the side, angling her lip to have better contact with his lip. In return, he kissed her back. He slightly opened his lips and let her tongue enter and invade again. He copied and slid his tongue into her mouth. He lifted both his arms and wrapped them around her waist and back. She cupped his face with a hand as they continued to deepen the kiss. Their lips moved in perfect harmony as she put all her weight on his strong body and moved her other hand on the other side of his face. After a few minutes they withdrew from each other but she was still hovering above him. But she moved in again and rested her forehead on his,

"Can I keep you?" she whispered as she gazed into his blue eyes.

Leo smiled back and their perfect night concluded with another sweet kiss good night and her hand in his.

* * *

Please don't judge me... I've come to love the turtles especially Leonardo and this was totally based on a weird dream i had one night... :D

More Extra Chapters coming soon! as soon as i get my other stories straight...


	11. Extra Chapter: Prank Wars

Extra Chapter: Prank Wars

One night, while Maika and April were training in the dojo, Mikey came rushing in with a pot on his head. He stops in front of his father and weeps like a child. The rest of his brothers come in after him with kitchen utensils at hand.

"What did you do now Mikey?" April asked.

"That little monster was trying to sabotage dinner again to play his stupid prank!" Raphael aggressively answered as he gripped the wooden spoon.

"That prank was not meant for dinner! I was setting it up for something else." Mikey defended pointing a finger at Raph.

Raph grabbed his finger and bent it backward causing Mikey to scream in pain and retrieve his finger to his mouth.

"You were planning to make the food taste funny and poison everyone!" Donnie said.

"Enough, you are all young adults! You should act like one." Splinter said.

After the commotion and dinner, Leo, Donnie, Raph were left in the kitchen to do the dishes. Leo called his brothers to the sink,

"It's time for payback, we need to teach Mikey that his pranks are getting too harsh and that they need to stop." He whispered.

"Yeah, and I have the perfect plan…" Donnie said clapping his fingers together like a mad scientist concocting an evil plan.

The three brothers snuck their way to Donnie's lab without their victim, who was training with the girls in the dojo, noticing. Donnie explained his plan in the simplest way he knows his brothers would understand. After a while, Mikey said he'd sleep first as he stretched himself and headed to his bedroom. The girls were getting ready to go home as well as they grabbed their bags and walked towards the entrance.

"Okay guys, we'll see you in two days." April said.

"Wait… what do you mean in two days?" Donnie asked.

"I have an art project to do, and Maika is going to help me with it. See you guys." April said as she grabbed Maika's hand and gently pulled her to the entrance.

Maika just waived her hand before walking to April's side. Leo awkwardly raised his hand to gesture his farewell to the girls. Once they cleared their line of sight, the brothers jumped off their seat and proceeded with their plan. Donnie closed the door to his lab,

"Okay, commence plan "make Mikey suffer with pranks to teach him a very important lesson about how it's not good to use them against your own family"…" Donnie said rubbing his hands together as he faced his table full of chemicals and tools.

His brothers looked at him with confusion,

"What…? Too wordy for an action plan...?" he asked.

The boys nodded before Raph violently pushed him to the side.

"Stick to the science Captain Dork-azilla…" Raph said crossing his arms.

"Fine, just help me with this please…" Donnie said getting up and holding a few of his stuff and instructing his brothers to do the same.

The next day, Mikey woke up with a yawn. He grabbed his mask from the wheels of his skateboard that was leaning against his bed. He tied his mask on his eyes like he always does and faced the small mirror that was on his wall. He rubbed his eyes to clear his blurred vision. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he stared at the mirror.

"AHHHHH! What the heck!" He screamed as loudly as he can at the unnatural sight.

His brothers laughed as they sat around their dining table. They held their hands for a high-three. Mikey came out of his room to confront his brothers, and they did nothing but smirk and look too confident as they faced their work.

"You did this…" Mikey glared as he held his fist at a tight grip.

"Serves you right, this is nothing compared to all the pranks you pulled on us." Raph said as he crossed his arms.

"My pranks never went this far!" Mikey defended himself, raising his voice and throwing his fists over his head.

"Yes they did you dork!" Raph said as he hit Mikey at the back of his head.

"You mixed up the labels in my lab that I unintentionally blew a few of my instruments to bits because of a wrong mixture." Donnie said.

"And you messed up my comic books that I blamed Raph for it." Leo said.

"And you turtle-napped Spike that I freaked out and messed up everything in the lair." Raph said.

"Those things are not as bad as what you've done to me! Look at me! I'm freaking PINK! How am I supposed to be a ninja when I'm a walking cotton candy?" Mikey argued.

"Like we said Mikey, this serves you right… maybe next time you'll learn that your pranks are not funny, they just annoy people." Leo said as he threw himself on the couch and turned the television on.

"And besides, the paint will wear off in… a couple of days." Donnie said sitting on the floor to watch with Leo.

"A couple of days…?" Mikey echoed in disbelief.

"By then we hope you learn your lesson, Dr. Prankenstein." Raph said placing himself on the blue bean bag and pulling a comic to red.

Mikey retreated back to his bedroom,

"No one messes with king of pranks…" he mumbled as he slammed his metal door shut.

The other boys were feeling satisfied with themselves and went back to watching. That night, Mikey stayed in the lair because he did not want anyone to see him pink. His brothers went out to patrol. After midnight, the boys went back. They figured Mikey was already asleep so they didn't bother to check up on him. The next morning they expected Mikey to have prepared them breakfast like he always does. They find food but no Mikey, just a note.

"Enjoy breakfast… I'm going to Itachi-san's to find out how to get this pink off me." Donnie read.

Raph clapped his hands and sat down. He grabbed his chopsticks and started feasting. Meanwhile, Leo contacted Itachi to check if Mikey has made it but Itachi doesn't answer and his calls go straight to voice mail. The relaxed Raphael just kept gorging down the food and tells Leo Mikey might be a goofball but when it comes to issues like this he comes through. Soon the brothers finish the food, do the dishes, and go back to hanging and playing in the living room. Leo dialed Maika's number, but no one answered. Leo was getting worried,

"Hey Don, can you try contacting April? I can't get hold of Maika or Itachi…" Leo said trying to dial again.

Donnie brought out his phone and dialed April, but to Don's surprise and worry April was not answering his t-phone as well.

"There must be something wrong; April's not answering his phone either." He said.

"Ugh, come on then we have to check it out. Something's really wrong I just know it." Leo said packing his swords on his back.

The guys followed and moved to the surface, first they investigated April's place. They landed on the fire escape and knocked on the window. Don knocked a few more times but no one was coming to great them. He looked through the tinted glass and saw no one.

"That's strange, neither April or Maika are inside." Don said.

"Weren't they supposed to be working on April's art project?" Raph asked.

"Well, yeah… that's what they told us." Don said.

Leo tried dialing Maika again, and then the guys heard her ringtone from inside the room.

"It's not like Maika to leave her phone just like that." Leo said turning off the call.

"Maybe she just forgot it and had to run with April to a store or something?" Raph said.

"Leo, try calling April…" Don said.

The same thing, they heard her ringtone inside.

"Look guys, this is nothing… it's probably just another prank Mikey is pulling as payback to the prank we did on him and if we just go home and wait this out, Mikey will give up and come back home." Raph said.

During Raph's words, Don was starting to pick the window lock. When they got in they were very surprised, everything was a mess. Paint were splattered everywhere, April's canvas was torn to shreds and most of her books were destroyed. Leo found Maika's beads from her black beaded bracelet scattered on the carpeted floor. Then Raph felt the most fear of them all, he saw the color of blood on the walls, on the ceiling and on April's sheets.

"Okay now that's scary." He mumbled as his eyes widened in anxiety.

Then Leo's phone rang, he answered it and it was Mikey…

"Mikey!... Mikey where are you?" he frantically shouted over the phone.

The response was less than helpful, it was Mikey's voice but it was choppy and static over the phone. After a few seconds, Leo could hear nothing but the dial tone of his own phone. He withdrew his phone from his ear and faced his brothers with a very worried face.

"It was Mikey… but I couldn't understand anything he said. Guys I really have a bad feeling about this." He said.

"Yeah no kidding Leo…" Don snarled having the same bit of worry as him maybe more because of his April being missing and might be in danger as well.

"We better get back to the lair and tell master Splinter the situation." Raph said.

"We should at least check if Itachi-san is at his home." Leo said leading them back out to the fire escape then to the roof tops.

When they got Maika and Itachi's home no one was there also and, like April's room, was a mess with groceries scattered and destroyed all over the floor. Leo rushed to Maika's bedroom, when he burst through the door, Maika's stuff were wrecked as if someone went through them frantically searching for something.

"What the heck is going one here?" Raph said walking to Leo's side.

Don entered the room in search for a clue, a mistake of the perpetuators. He opened Maika's black laptop,

"Guys check this out." He said as his brothers walked to him.

He played a video file that was on the screen. And they were very surprised, it was dark and only a deep voice could be heard,

"Did you like the show, boys? I'm sorry for the mess but it's just the opening act, our show has just begun!" Spotlights lit and revealed the tied and bloodied missing people.

The guys panicked as their eyes opened in horror and anxiety.

"I hope you accept my invitation to see the rest of the show, if you don't come…" the lights disappeared again and nothing but a scream was heard.

The guys could only imagine someone was tortured and to their worst fear it was one of their friends.

"Let's go, we have to find them now!" Leo and his brothers went back to the lair as fast as they could.

Leo and Donnie were in the lab with Splinter trying to figure out where the video was taken and Raph was packing weapons and secretly grieving over the state of his younger brother.

"I promise Mikey, I'll beat the green off the people who did that to you." He mumbled as he touched Mikey's face in a family photo he had taped to the wall of his room.

"Raph, we found them let's go!" Leo knocked on his metal door.

The brothers set out with their master's blessing. They walked through the tunnels following Donnie's calculation on the location of where the video was sent from. They surfaced to an empty part of the city. They walked a few blocks and then stood in front of an old and abandoned warehouse.

"Well, this is it…" Don said keeping his phone.

"Got to give them points for eerie place to be in..." Raph said.

"We can't just march in there; we need a plan b in case they overpower us and capture us as well." Leo said.

"Donnie I need you to go in through the back, see if you can find the girls, Itachi-san and Mikey before things turn for the worst." Leo relayed.

"What about you guys?" Donnie asked.

"Raph and I will fight; distract the people inside so you can search." Leo said.

"And then what?" Donnie asked but Leo hesitated to answer.

"Let's do this." Raph said bringing his closed fist to inside of their circle, Leo and Don did the same before they split to commence their rescue plan.

Donnie walked silently to the side of the building, while Raph and Leo went in through an open window on the second floor. And inside was truly pitch black,

"It doesn't seem like no one is in here, are we sure this is the right building?" Raph whispered as he cautiously walked through the dark.

Suddenly they were knocked off to the first floor by a powerful force. They slowly picked themselves up and readied their weapon. But it wasn't long before something keeps beating them up and knocking them down in all direction. Raph swung his Sais uncontrollably in hopes of hitting something. But soon after a few grueling minutes of being knocked all over, Raph and Leo were knocked out.

Leo groaned out as he opened his eyes. He felt his hands and his entire body restricted. He tried to wriggle free but as he did he heard a cry out for pain.

"Raph…?" he said.

"Who do you think?" Raph responded.

"What's going on?"

"Donnie…? I thought I told you to look for the guys." Leo said.

"I was, but I was fighting in the dark then I was knocked out. And now I'm here tied up with you guys." Don answered.

"Great… Leo, do we have a plan c?" Raph sarcastically asked.

Lights turned on, their backs were tied together and they faced all different directions. A shady figure standing to the side started talking to them.

"So you really thought I would let you get in without giving you our deluxe amenities?" he said.

"Why don't you come out here and say that to my face, you creep!" Raph angrily scowled.

"What have you done to our friends?" Leo asked glaring at the figure which was in front of him.

"Oh don't worry, they're also enjoying themselves." The figure answered as the shadow of its arm gesturing them to the side where a few more spotlights lit revealing the dangling bloodied prisoners.

"April!" Don shouted as his eyes were filled with horror, the girl he cares for the most is covered in bruises, her face flinching in pain and her entire body hanging above the ground from the strength of her thin wrist.

"Maika…" Leo mumbled as his mouth dropped in shock and his eyes opened in anxiety, Maika's body had numerous cuts and lacerations, her face was full of bruises and cuts that it was barely recognizable as the beautiful girl he always saw and the ropes that constricted his arms and mid-body was hurting her even more as he hovered off solid ground.

"Mikey!" Raph glared his concern for his beloved younger brother who was hanging upside down, tied by his large green feet, his body full of red, blue, and black bruises and his shell damaged with deep scratches.

"Now that everyone's here let the game begin!" the figure shouted and the boys started spinning.

"Why are you doing this!" Leo shouted was the platform they were on started spinning faster and faster.

The boys closed their eyes as they were starting to get dizzier and dizzier one revolution after the other.

"Payback…!"

They were surprised at the voice who responded, they opened their eyes to see in a flash their little brother grinning at them holding a rope and the next yanking it pouring buckets of pink paint all over them. The spinning started slowing down, and when it stopped, they say Maika, Itachi and April holding on to ropes and yanking it all together spilling buckets of glitter and sparkles and a whole net of cute stuffed toys all over them. They all took out their phone and starting taking pictures. The disoriented guys can't do anything to stop them and just opened their eyes in surprise and shock.

"Like I said, no one messes with the King of pranks." Mikey grinned as he walked towards his team of pranksters who were equally happy and smiling at their victims.

"You guys were in on this with him!" Raph shouted trying to stand up but wobbles to the side crashing to a few wooden planks set off to the side.

"What you did wasn't very nice." April said.

"But he started it." Donnie said as April placed his arm over her shoulders to help him stand up properly.

"You guys are his older brothers; the way to discipline him on his pranks is not to prank him back…" Itachi said as he approached Leo,

"Ignore them, let him get bored and give up… he does this to get attention from you guys." He whispered.

"Mikey's not the kind to get bored and give up. We'll end up falling in to his every prank if we don't do anything about it." Leo whispered back as he rubbed his head.

"Yeah, probably, but you do realize that he takes his pranks a little bit higher than what you guys can do to him. Maybe next time not so extreme or you'll end up killing each other with pranks." Itachi said helping Leo.

Maika approached Leo and helped him get up to his feet.

"Don't worry after this, no more payback for a while." Leo slyly smiled as he stared at the smirking Maika.

"The prank war is won by the king of pranks! I am undefeated." Mikey shouted as he threw his hands up above his head.

"And now the king is going to be killed!" Raph picked himself up from the floor and ran after Mikey with his Sais drawn.

The others just laughed and chuckled as the two ran around the floor.


	12. Extra Chapter: It's a Bro-Sis Thing

Extra Chapter: It's a bro-sis thing

One night, April was with Donnie in his lab. Donnie was helping April with chemistry homework. As they were silently working, April thought to break the silence,

"Did you ever see Itachi-san fight?" she asked.

"I don't think he does, whenever we have a training session he just sits and observes at the side. And didn't Maika said after their parents died he stopped training to concentrate in his studies." Donnie answered as he leaned in to his microscope.

"Well do you think he can still fight like Maika does?" April asked.

"I guess, but it's kind of hard to imagine, isn't it?" he said jotting down notes.

"Why is it? He probably fights like Maika, they were trained together after all." She said.

"Maika fights recklessly remember. We can assume Itachi-san fights the exact opposite." He said.

"We should ask him later when they come for dinner." April said.

"Guys, we brought pizza…" they heard as they stopped work for a while to greet the people at the entrance.

To everyone's surprise, Itachi had a bandaged forehead and was leaning against his little sister for support.

"What happened?" Splinter asked.

"Turn on the TV it should be on tonight's news." Maika said putting his brother down on the couch.

Leo turns the TV on and channels it to the news. They watch as the anchorman said,

"A major bank robbery was avoided earlier today thanks to two young Japanese foreigners who came that day to withdraw and exchange their money for dollars. Police men are baffled at how these two Japanese teenagers were able to battle out 18 armed men out of the bank. Reports and witnesses say that the teenagers literally fought the armed men in hand to gun combat. Hostages narrate the events that went on inside the bank and described the two teenagers as ninjas that were too powerful for the guns of the 6 armed grown men. But as soon as the men were taken down, the foreigners escaped and fled the scene to avoid any questions from the police or the press."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why Itachi-san has so many injuries." April said.

"I got these as we were fleeing the scene; I slipped in the alley and hit my head on a dumpster." Itachi answered rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"But still, you guys took down bad guys. That rocked!" Raph smiled.

"That wasn't how I planned to start the day at all." Itachi said.

"What really happened Itachi-san?" Leo asked.

Itachi started narrating from the moment he and Maika walked to the bank. They were waiting in line for the foreign exchange.

"It was nice of uncle to lend us money while we're here in New York." Itachi smiled to Maika.

"He did, but most of it was for his souvenirs. I guess old people make it a habit to collect them." Maika grumbled as she avoided saying something offensive about family in front of his brother.

Itachi smiled his response. Suddenly, a commotion started when 18 armed men dressed in black came in through the banks entrance. The men were shouting and barking out orders as the innocent people dropped down to the ground and covered their heads.

"Wow, this usually only happens in movies and TV. Did you ever think we could be in one?" Itachi said as he and her sister stood amidst the people being ordered to drop on their stomachs.

"Are you deaf! I said on the floor now!" A man barked through his muffled mouth at Maika and Itachi.

But they were still unmoving, as the guy pointed his rifle at Itachi; he dropped to the ground on his knees. A few of the armed men saw it and pointed their gun at Itachi and marched towards him at gun point. But Itachi smirked before their eyes as they were all thrown across different direction of the hall. The hostages managed to raise their heads and witnessed the baffling events that seemed to stop the robbers. Itachi put on his metal mask, like Maika's but was custom made for him that he just happens to carry around in his messenger bag and his fingerless blue gloves with metal plating on the back.

"What are you supposed to be? Some kind of superhero…" a robber asked.

"I am something a bit more real than a superhero." Itachi smirked underneath his mask as he pulled and secured his glove.

"I am a ninja…" he said as his eyes glared at them.

The robber was about to pull the trigger but Itachi moved at a great pace to his side. The robber was shocked as he moved his gaze to his side. Itachi raised an arm and hit the man with great force causing him to fly across the room to a bank teller's desk, destroying it in the process.

The other robbers were alarmed at the boy; they pointed all their guns at him. But he moved too fast for anyone to know where he would strike. One by one he picked the robbers off and threw, punched and kicked them all over the place. The hostages were amazed as they have not seen anything like that before. To them this young Japanese boy was like super-fast, superhuman. But it was in Itachi's good conscience not to injure a man, even if he was a robber, too much. After a while, the men started firing their guns at him. But he disappeared to the high ceiling of the bank after what looked like a leap.

"Where are you bastard!" a robber shouted.

On one of the ledge in the ceiling, Maika had a glove on that had wires invisible to the eye but is strong enough to lift a full grown lion a hundred feet off the ground and with it she pulled her brother out of harm's way.

"Took you long enough…" Itachi said.

"Sorry, I wanted to see you fight this out. I haven't seen you fight in three years." Maika said as the wires reeled back into her glove.

"Cool glove… new toy?" Itachi asked.

"Donnie made it for me, with my instructions anyway. So what's the plan?" Maika asked as she and her brother looked down to see the hostages being gathered up in a corner.

"You're the experienced warrior, why ask me for a plan?" Itachi asked.

"You know my methods! You want them to shoot guns at me?" Maika said.

"You're right, we have to be smarter at this… this is a real situation." Itachi said.

After a few seconds,

"Alright then, let's play a game…" Itachi smirked under his mask.

The robbers were getting all the money from the teller's desk. Soon they heard sirens from police outside the bank.

"This is NYPD! Come out with your hands above your heads!" A police man shouted through a bullhorn.

The robbers responded with a few rifles shooting bullets through the glass to the sea of policemen and police cars surrounding the bank. The police fired a few rounds but was ordered to cease fire as they could hit a hostage by mistake.

"Get every last penny and let's get out of here boys!" a robber said.

"What about that guy in the mask, what do we do about him?" another man asked as he dragged a duffle bag full of money out from behind a counter.

"Forget about that, he chickened out and left. We're too strong to deal with a wimpy guy like that." A robber said.

Suddenly a robber cleaning out a counter from the far side of the bank lobby groaned in pain as he dropped to the floor.

"They're back…" A female bank teller said as it all turned silent again.

"Go see what's going on, then kill it." A robber said.

But as the man was walking up to his fallen friend, he was punched back to where he walked from. The robbers were surprised, instead of the young man in a mask they faced before, it was a young girl wearing a mask.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me… Shoot her down!" a robber ordered as they aimed and fired.

But thanks to Maika's training and special skills, she moved from the floor to the highest point of the hall walls in a way that resembled a cat. As she landed back to the floor, the robbers were struck with a close hand attack from the young man. He punched them back a good distance away, getting them away from their guns. Maika did the same and to the hostages eyes they were too good to be true. After every single last one of them were knocked out and tied, their weapons collected and out of reach. The two of them approached the hostages to set them free. Before all of them could thank them, they disappeared out of anyone's sights. The police burst through the wreck glass doors to find everything fine. The robbers were ready for them to book and the hostages unharmed and safe. When they asked what happened, the hostages all said the same thing, "ninja's saved us".

Itachi and Maika were making their escape at a back alley,

"Man that was exhilarating!" Itachi cheered as he paced behind his sister.

"That was too easy…" Maika said making a turn to another back alley.

As Itachi followed he slipped in spilled oil from behind an automobile shop and hit his head to the corner of a dumpster and spraining his ankle at the slip. Maika dabbled back as she heard a loud groan from her brother.

"Are you okay?" She sarcastically asked.

"Oh, just perfect thank you!" Itachi shouted at a sarcastic question.

Back to the lair,

"Oh my gosh, that was quite a fall Itachi-san." April said.

"Well you know, accidents happen, I'm just glad that it didn't cause too much damage to my head." Itachi said lightly touching his blood stained bandage.

"So you fight a lot smarter and more cautious than Maika." Donnie summarized.

"Basically, I mean if she handled that alone, we would be visiting her in the hospital emergency room." Itachi said.

"Nah, they wouldn't have hit me… I am still faster than you big bro." Maika defended.

"Wow, in a battle you could be a great team, skill and smart." April said.

"Well thank you for that, but I'll leave the fighting to her." Itachi said

"Why?" Mikey innocently asked.

"She might be reckless but she's better at it than me. Besides I'm more of the bookworm type than warrior." Itachi proudly said.

"Cool, Itachi-san if you don't mind sparring with the four of us sometime when you're feeling better." Leo asked.

"What…? Wait, don't you want Maika instead?" Itachi said.

"We already sparred with Maika, and she said she wants to dedicate herself to training April as a fellow kunoichi." Mikey answered.

"Well, if that's the case… why not?" Itachi smiled.

The boys cheered,

"Alright…!"

After a while the boys were watching TV, Maika was in the dojo meditating. Splinter approached her,

"I sense something is troubling you, my child." He said as he sat in front of her.

"This is nothing sensei, just something about the bank robbery this morning." Maika answered with a straight face.

Splinter stayed quiet and meditated with her. But Maika's mind were replaying event at the bank, before the robbers came. In her mind, as she and Itachi were waiting in the line,

"So, you like Leo?" Itachi suddenly said making Maika face away from him as she felt her face heat up suddenly at the mention of the name.

"No I don't." she whispered silently defending herself with her feelings.

"You don't need to feel ashamed, I like him for you. He's more of a gentleman than any other ordinary boy." Itachi showed a reassuring smile.

"There are a lot differences between us." Maika whispered.

"What…? It's not like you to be held back by such superficial things. Leo's different in a lot of ways from you but you don't need to let those things come between having a good relationship with him." Itachi said.

"You're only saying that because he can't follow me to back home to Japan. And a long distance relationship means you can't worry about me coming home late from dates and hang outs and stuff." Maika said having passed her embarrassed moment and back to her serious ones.

"That's mostly true… but also because I haven't seen you have so much fun with anyone else in a long time. I see you smile and laugh a lot more with the guys than you have been with your classmates in years." Itachi said.

"We have a couple more weeks here, and you know I never liked saying goodbyes. Please don't let me think about the farewells." Maika said.

Maika kept wondering, are her feeling for Leo real? And if they were what can she do about it? She silently sighed out her frustration,

"Keeping something that bothers you in your heart is like a dagger slowly piercing through it. Tell me what troubles you, Maika. Ease your frustration." Splinter said.

"Sensei I… I want to know if it's real…" she bluntly said that puzzled Splinter more.

"Is it a boy?" he awkwardly asked as a father concerned about a daughter's dilemmas.

"It's a bit worse than a boy… sensei… it's… Leonardo." She whispered in between her hesitant gritted teeth.


	13. Extra Chapter: Kunoichi Battle Royale

Extra Chapter: Kunoichi Battle Royale

One day, Maika and April were sparring in the dojo. The boys were watching,

"April, demonstrate correct offense, hajime…!" Splinter signaled.

April charged with her tessen swinging at Maika. Maika, kept subtle movements and just dodged her attack. After a while,

"Yame…! Very good April, now defend against Maika's attack." He said.

Maika unsheathed her sword and pointed it against April.

"Hajime…!" Splinter signaled and Maika charged.

Maika made a few strategic swings and knocked April down on the floor in less than a minute in the training session. But April got back up and spread her tessen. Maika raised her sword and the battle once again commenced. April waited for Maika to attack, and using her training with Maika she read Maika's movement and defended herself. The boys were impressed of April was lasting longer in battle with Maika. After a few twists, swings, punches and kicks the girls were evenly tied. Their spar ended with April's open fan pointing at Maika's throat and Maika's sword hovering above April's chest. The girls exchanged exhausting breaths and stares before retreating and bowing at the end of the match.

"Very good, April you have improved greatly as a kunoichi. Well done my child." Splinter said placing a congratulatory hand on April's shoulder.

"Thank you, sensei..." April smiled.

"And Maika, you did an excellent job training your fellow ninja. I am proud of you also." He said

"Thank you, sensei..." Maika remained stoic as she sheathed her sword.

"Both of you may sit down. Boys, it's your turn." Splinter said as the boys stood up on to the mat.

As Maika and April sat down, April saw the sadness in Maika's eyes. After the training, everyone moved to the living room. April confronted Maika secretly at the kitchen.

"Are you okay?" she asked as Maika searched the fridge for something to eat.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" Maika asked back locating a piece of cake she left the day before.

"Well, first you're eating with Leo's utensils. And second, you were taking it too easy on me during the fight." April said crossing her arms and with a smirk on her face as Maika took the blue fork out of her mouth.

For a moment, Maika replays the lip contact she had with Leo weeks ago.

"Leo doesn't mind if I use his stuff and I took it easy so the fight would look fair. If I didn't take it easy on you, you wouldn't be walking right now." Maika said taking another bite of the cake.

"Tell me the truth Maika, what's going on?" April asked as she stared mercilessly at Maika.

Maika, of course, hesitated to answer truthfully. She was saved when Mikey came in.

"Cool, cake for snacks then Maika-san!" he cheered.

"Help yourself, there's more in the fridge." Maika said as she walked towards the entrance to proceed to the living room.

April was still curious. Maika sat with the boys as they watched TV. April started texting Itachi for information. Itachi, concerned as well, gave her what she asked for and April couldn't believe the things Itachi relayed to her. She gazed at Maika as she mingled with the guys and noticed she barely looks at Leo. She texted Itachi if they're having a problem. Itachi replies Maika's dilemma when they leave in a few days.

That night, they all went to patrol while Itachi kept master Splinter company in the lair. The guys thought to cover more ground they'd team themselves into twos. Leo and Donnie teamed together leaving Raph and Mikey together and the two kunoichi with each other. There was an awkward silence at Maika's team as they moved from one rooftop to the other. Then April couldn't keep it in anymore,

"I can't believe you kissed Leo!" she blurted out breaking the awkward silence of the night.

Maika stared at April in full shock.

"Who told you that?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter. Why would you keep that from me?" April shouted in anger and concern.

"It was Itachi wasn't it." Maika glared.

"Yes it was Itachi-san. But you should answer my question. Why didn't you tell me about it first?" April argued.

"It doesn't matter now, it was nothing." Maika said avoiding eye contact.

"What do you mean it was nothing? It was yours and his first kiss, of course it matters. Why would you keep that bottled up?" April said.

"What do you want me to do, April? Shout it to the heavens that I kissed a turtle. Leo never spoke about it so I didn't also." Maika said.

"Of course he's not going to say anything about it. He's a boy…" April said.

"Look April, it was just a kiss." Maika said gazing to the side as she hid her reddening face.

"Well, have you two talked any time after the kiss?" April asked.

Maika hesitated to answer,

"Maika…"

"I just don't know it is real and I think he doesn't know too. And if it is, how will it work with both of us when I go back home?" Maika softly said.

"Well…"

Then suddenly they saw a shadow leaping from rooftop to rooftop on the other side of the street. Suspicious, they both leaped to see where it was going. When they got to the alley, they were ambushed by a few dozen foot clan soldiers and it wasn't long before a familiar faces dropped in to join the fight.

"Nice to see you, princesa."

"We were hoping for the turtles to come but you work just as fine."

"Well, if it isn't Bradford and Xever. It's been quite a while since I fought you idiots." Maika smirked as she unsheathed her sword and pointed it at them.

"Bradford! Xever! Step down, those two are mine."

A female kunoichi stepped down to the alley.

"Karai…" April said glaring at the said person.

"About time you showed up…" Maika glared.

"Retreat and track the turtles down, I'll handle them." Karai said raising her arm to the side.

Xever and Bradford and a number of the foot soldiers retreated back to the rooftops.

"Tell me Karai, how is your father doing? Has he breathed his last breath yet?" Maika teased.

The enraged Karai charged at Maika with her sword. The foot soldiers followed and also attacked April. April defended herself using her training and her tessen while Karai and Maika clashed swords. They took it to the roofs of New York while April stayed in the alley thinning out the number of foot soldiers one ninja at a time.

On the roof,

"What you did to my father is unforgivable!" Karai said as she swung harder and harder each time.

"Your father was lucky, he escaped death." Maika argued as she blocks Karai's attack.

"You destroyed him! You almost killed him!" Karai said.

"Your father destroyed a lot more lives! Including what you could have had with your real father!" Maika shouted as the force of her attack threw Karai back to a wall.

"Those are lies! Shredder is my father! Splinter was the one who ruined my life and killed my mother!" Karai shouted.

"If you believe so, then he has blinded you Miwa…" Maika said as she walked towards her.

"My name is Karai!" Karai shouted launching herself at Maika swinging her sword at her which gravely wounds Maika's arm that tried to block it.

Due to loss of control, because of the deep wound, Maika's left arm fell to the side. She gritted her teeth as Karai continued to attack her relentlessly and with more strength after every hit. Maika continues to block holding her sword with just one hand. Maika continued to persuade Karai that she isn't what she has been in the past.

"He stole you Karai. You are a Hamato. You are master Splinter's daughter and Lady Tang Shen was his wife not Shredders." She said.

"Shut up!" Karai said throwing another powerful blow that sent Maika over the edge of the roof. Maika dropped her sword to the fire escape as her only good arm caught the edge of the building. She dangled helplessly,

"This is what you get for lying to me, bitch." Karai cursed as she stood over Maika.

Then April stepped in, having defeated the soldiers.

"Step away from her Karai."

"Your choice princess, prepare to die with Maika!" Karai said as she turned to face her.

April battled it out with Karai, holding her back. Maika jumped down to the fire escape to retrieve her sword. Maika leaped back up to roof top and just in time to stop Karai from devastatingly injuring April. She took over the fight,

"Stand down April, she's mine…" Maika glared at the equally glaring Karai.

"No, this is a battle between us and her. Besides, I still owe her for beating me up months ago." April said standing her ground to join Maika in battle.

They all started to fight, 2 against 1. But soon more foot soldiers arrive to distract April. Maika starts to battle more like her usual self, reckless and powerful. Karai was forcing herself to keep up with Maika. But after a few minutes, Maika stood over Karai after a few powerful attacks.

"You choose to protect a murderer. Fine, people like you don't serve redemption." Maika raised her sword above her head, preparing to stab Karai.

But she gritted her teeth and hesitated to take action.

"I'm not like you…" she lowered her sword.

But to April's horror, Karai brought out a hidden knife and attacked Maika's chest, penetrating her body.

"Maika!" April shouted.

But unknown to April and to Karai's surprise, Maika caught the sword with her left hand only penetrating her hand not her body.

"I am stronger than you… always remember that." Maika glared as she grabbed Karai's hand throwing her over the building.

The foot soldiers, concerned for the boss' kid, jumped down to catch her before retreating back to the shadows. Maika removed the knife from her hand and threw the blood stained blade to the side. She sheathed her sword. She sighed before facing April,

"We should keep this little adventure to ourselves, alright April." Maika uncharacteristically smiled.

April just stared at her. Then the boys came rushing in to them.

"Are you girls okay?" Donnie greeted.

"We're fine, how did you find us?" April asked.

"Fishface and Dogpound attacked us and we thought someone else could come at you as well." Raph said.

"Well, there was…"

Suddenly Maika began coughing out blood. Leo rushed to her and cradled her in his arms.

"April what happened?" Leo asked.

Maika continued to cough out more blood.

"Let's just take her back home." Mikey panicked.

Leo carried Maika and hurriedly went back home. Itachi treated her sister's injuries while April narrated what happened. After a while,

"She's going to be fine. She should just rest." Itachi said picking up the bloody bandages he used to clean Maika's wounds.

"I can't believe this; Maika would never let herself get too injured like that, especially not from fighting a foot." Raph said.

"She was just trying to make Karai see the truth for what it is." Donatello said.

"But at the last strike, she looked like she wanted to kill Karai." April said.

"Then why did she hesitate?" Raph asked.

That early morning while everyone was still asleep, Maika woke up. She slowly opened her eyes to the sight of the lit ceiling and a wind up stair case that leads to nowhere. She uncovered her blanket and sat up to see all of her friends and brother sleeping soundly in futon mattresses on the floor. She sighed at the sight of her bandaged arm and torso.

"Guess I really am nothing but a wreck in battle." She thought as she gazed back to the light on the ceiling.

She snuck out of her bed and walked to the dojo. She proceeded to master Splinter's altar. She touched the face of Splinter's daughter in the picture.

"You did your best trying to persuade Karai that she isn't who she is." Splinter came out of his room.

"Don't you want her back, sensei?" Maika asked withdrawing her hand to face the master.

"Of course, more than anything, but I am not in a hurry because I know it would be difficult to explain and that after I explain it she still wouldn't believe in the truth. Karai will be confused but stubborn." Splinter answered.

"Tell me sensei; have you come to replace your loved ones from the past with the loved ones at present?" Maika asked as she sat down with splinter on the matted floor.

"I can never replace the people I loved in the past, even if I already lost them all those years ago. My sons and friends are now the most important treasures I keep and protect just like I would have with my beloved Tang Shen and Miwa." Splinter said.

"Thank you for sharing Master Splinter." Maika bowed before standing and walking away.

Splinter saw something in Maika that would have been his daughter's too, courage.

"Tell me Maika, when you spoke to Karai about me being her true father, what was her reaction?" Splinter asked as Maika stepped one foot out of the entrance.

"Like you said sensei, she is stubborn so of course she would never have believed me on the first hand. She was enraged when I mentioned her real name." Maika smirked.

"I am not in a hurry, so long as I know she is alive and safe." Splinter smirked as he walked back to his room.

Maika intended to walk back to her bed but instead she grabbed her sword and walked to the entrance. She looked back to her friends sleeping faces.

"One more thing before I leave…" she thought as she walked back to the surface.

On the roof tops of New York she made her way to a kraang facility under their surveillance. She observed from an adjacent building.

"Too early for a game of hide and seek, don't you think?"

Maika sighed and turned around.

"April, how did you find me?" Maika asked.

"I am not about to lose my teacher and friend. Whatever it is you're up to, I'm on it with you." April said.

"Go back April. This is my fight against Karai." Maika said.

"For your information, I also have a bone to pick with Karai and I am not letting you do this on your own." April said.

Maika had no point going on with arguing because she wanted to finish the mission as fast as possible. They entered through a vent unguarded by the droids and the foot soldiers. As they crawled quietly inside the titanium air vents, April started interrogating Maika,

"How did it feel?" she whispered as she placed one palm with one knee forward.

"How did what feel?" Maika asked back as she led them through the maze of ducts.

"The kiss silly, how did the kiss feel?" April said.

"You want to talk about that now?" Maika asked back.

"Will you stop answering my questions with questions? I just want to know how you felt when you were kissing Leo." April said.

"You have to stop April. We are crawling in a ventilation system in an enemy lair and we need to focus and be quiet." Maika said.

"Wow, the kiss must have given you some of Leo's personality, you sound just like him." April said.

"Say that again and you I will kick you out of the ducts." Maika angrily whispered.

"Did you also kiss Raph? Now you sound like him." April smile.

"April, please stop it." Maika pleaded with a calmer tone.

"Alright, fine, but we are not dropping the subject and you have to tell me everything about it." April demanded.

"Later…"

Suddenly, the duct broke under their feet and they fell to a, thankfully, empty hall way. April picked herself up with her aching body.

"That was not a pretty entrance…" she moaned as she stood on her feet.

"At least we're in…" Maika said as she held her injured arm and stood on her feet.

"Yeah, but where exactly are we?" April said.

In front of them were three hallways.

"What are we looking for again?" April asked.

"Karai…" Maika answered.

"Okay, why?" April asked again.

"We didn't finish business back on that roof." Maika said as she started walking in the middle hallway and April trailed behind her.

"You mean we're here to finish her off?" April asked in a raised tone that seemed in a panic.

"We're not here to kill her, just her pride and her clan if possible." Maika said.

"Why didn't we get the guys to help?" April asked.

"They're idiots, they'll mess this up for me." Maika said.

"For you…?" April thought.

"What exactly are you planning?" she asked more aggressively.

Maika sighed,

"This is why I didn't want anyone to come with me." Maika muttered.

They stopped before a big room, Maika scanned the room as she and April hid behind a post.

"Whoa, so this is where they hid him." April said noticing a cylindrical transparent case filled with some weird pink liquid and a body of the shredder, unconscious and connected to wires and an oxygen mask.

Then Maika saw the girl she was looking for entered the room through another hall.

"There's been a breach in security, take every soldier and search the facility. I will guard my father." Karai said.

When the foot soldiers were gone, Karai faced her recovering father.

"I won't let anyone hurt you again, father." She murmured as she touched the glass.

"You shouldn't call him that."

Karai readied her sword and faced Maika as she came out of the shadows of the hall.

"That's enough with your lies!" Karai shouted charging at Maika.

Maika dodges with fast movements. She talks in between attacks.

"Karai, listen to me… Oroku Saki stole you that night he killed your mother in the Hamato residence." She said.

"No! Stop lying!" Karai shouted throwing faster and more powerful swings.

One swing caught Maika's cheek as she leaped a good distance away from Karai. A line of blood appeared on her cheek and it dripped a few lines of blood to her cheek.

"So you truly won't listen to the truth…" Maika mumbled as she unsheathed her sword.

"The least I can do before I go back to Japan, is take this twisted clan down." Maika said crouching down to her stance.

Karai launched herself at her and they started to exchange powerful blows, leaping from one corner of the room to the other, from the ceiling to the floor. While Maika was busy with Karai, April snuck to the controls of the facility. She weaved pass droids who are after her and foot soldiers that will kill her if they find her. When she found the control room,

"Alright, let's do this…" she whispered as she opened an automatic cabinet and plugged a USB device. She took the controls and started to type.

Back in the main hall, Karai was starting wear down. She panted out breath after breath.

"I won't let you hurt my father!" she shouted in spite her exhaustion.

"I will never hurt your father, he's a good man. The father you refer to is a monster." Maika blankly stared with red, blood tinted irises.

"And I will make sure he will never see the light of day." Maika said.

The facility started alarming, droids and soldiers ran around halls confused of what's going to happen. April took the USB device and fled the room back in the air vents and back out the facility. The container started malfunctioning cutting the oxygen that kept the Shredder breathing. Karai panicked and retorted to saving her father rather than facing the enemy.

"Good luck with finding the truth about you." Maika leaped to a ledge to get out of the facility through a glass window.

Karai had no choice but to open the tank with force to let Shredder out. The droids and soldiers were flocking to help them move out of the facility. Outside, Maika and April watched from the rooftop as the foot soldiers and the kraang drive away in white and black vans from the facility.

"That was nice of you to keep her alive." April said.

"It wouldn't be fun for the guys if I take their biggest threat for myself." Maika smirked.

"That's true; Raphael won't be able to forgive you if you took away his toys." April said.

"Did you get it?" Maika asked.

April presented the black USB device,

"Of course I did…" April said as she handed it over to her.

"Let's go back, and talk about it." Maika said.

April excitedly embraced Maika as they disappeared back in the alley.

"You know what, can we find a place to eat breakfast. After that mission I'm starving." Maika said.

"We can go to Murokami's." April suggested.

"Perfect…" Maika said.

They arrived at the noodle shop and sat at the counter. Murokami served them his best kind of noodles and Maika began telling the story to April,

"You're not kidding, that really happened?" April asked after Maika told the brief story leaving out details.

"Yeah, pretty much." Maika said.

"Well, I see your problem now. Leo, I agree, is a very special kind of… guy. But you can't just leave your country and your family there." April said.

"I just want to leave with no loose ends, no unfinished business." Maika said.

"Don't you want to try having a long distance relationship with him?" April asked.

"I don't think that a good idea for someone who's a superhero by night." Maika answered.

"Right, he can't always check up on you every night when they're on a mission." April said.

"You did know I was talking about me, right?" Maika said.

"Oh…" April muttered a little bit embarrassed of her previous sentence.

"And besides I'm not ready for a relationship." Maika said.

"What are you talking about? How else are you going to be ready for a relationship than by having one?" April said.

"Be reasonable April, Leo is too special. I don't want to end up hurting him." Maika said as they both finished the noodles.

She stared at her reflection on the left over soup in the bowl.

"We better get back before the guys turn up panicking looking for us." April said reading the text Don sent her.

"Thanks for the meal, Murokami-san. I'll see you again soon." Maika said as they got off their seats and headed for the door.

"Oh yes, Maika-chan I hope to see you again soon, and don't worry too much about your feelings for Leonardo. Both of you are still young and I'm sure Leonardo is not the kind of guy to hurt someone as special as you." Murokami said.

"Uh, thank… you… Murokami-san…" Maika replied with a questioning tone.

When they got out,

"What was that about?" Maika asked.

"Blind man knows what he's talking about girl." April answered.

Then, they were stopped with a few Chinese men.

"Where do you think you're going, princess." One of them asked.

"Get lost Fong, we just ate and we're not in the mood to play with you and your purple dragons." April answered.

"Why you, get 'em!" Fong said as they charged at Maika and April.

But, April and Maika confidently defended themselves against the three grown men. Blow after blow, the purple dragons were all kissing pavement.

"Wow, not bad April. You have matched up to me." Maika said as April dropped the big guy's arm from her arm lock.

"Really, you think so?" April said.

"Well, you've definitely improved from the last time I saw you fight. You can now take care of yourself without the protection of your prince charming." Maika said as they walked in the sidewalk with a sea of commuters that morning.

"Who do you mean prince charming?" April asked confused.

"Oh please, you know who I mean. Donatello…" Maika teased.

April suddenly took a wrong step and bumped into someone.

"Sorry…" she said as that someone passed by her.

"He's not my prince charming. What are you talking about?" April said fixing her bangs turning her face away so Maika wouldn't see that she's blushing at the name.

"Oh you can't hide that face from me. I'm not the only one who's been caught in the love net." Maika said as they disappeared in the subway stairs.

"Oh well, he's… I mean, I… we…it isn't really…" April stammered trying to find the right answer to defend herself to Maika.

"Come now April, you and I both know they have that reptilian charm that's somehow irresistible." Maika said.

April giggled as they snuck into the tunnels to get back to the lair. As they were walking they talked more. Half way there they were greeted by a frantic Leo and Donnie,

"Where did you girls go?" Leo asked with a panicked tone.

"We went out for an early morning training session." Maika asked.

"Are you kidding? And you didn't even leave a note saying where you were." Donnie panicked.

"Don, relax… we were fine." April said.

"Let's just go back home please." Maika said grabbing Leo's hand much to the other three's surprise.

"Did I miss something?" Donnie whispered over to April as they walked behind Leo and Maika who weren't conversing but still holding hands.

"Oh Donnie, some things are not for explaining." April smiled.

The four walked through the tunnels till they reached the lair where the others were waiting around the kitchen table.

"April and I already ate, we'll just hang in the dojo." Maika said pulling April in the dojo as the guys entered the kitchen.

In the dojo,

"What was that all about?" April asked.

"What was what?" Maika asked pretending to have no idea what April was asking about.

"Leo… the hand… you… holding it…" April said.

Maika only smiled as a hint of pink crept to her cheeks.


	14. Extra Chapter: Till Next Time

This is the final story for the story.

* * *

Extra Chapter: Till next time

In the next couple of days, Maika and Itachi have been spending their time with their new friends in the lair. And Maika has been spending her time with Leo, getting to know him pass the things she sees in him.

On their last night in the city, they held a party in the lair. Mikey, Itachi and Raph were battling it out on a video game on the TV. April and Donnie watched on as they shouted and threw themselves in weird poses and aggressive moves of the controls.

"Hey where are Leo and Maika?" Donnie asked as he noticed his brother, who was sitting next to him just a moment ago, was gone.

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure they're somewhere out there." April smiled.

Somewhere on the surface, Leo and Maika were playing a game.

"Maika, wait up!" Leo said trying to catch Maika in his arms.

"Come on slow poke! Keep up!" Maika said leaping in front of him.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going?" Leo said.

"Just hurry…" she said.

She finally stopped at a dark part of the Central Park,

"You are still too fast." Leo said panting his exhaustion out as he stood next to Maika.

"And you are still too slow to catch me." Maika smirked.

"What are we doing here anyway?" Leo asked.

"We are on a date." Maika answered.

"On a date…?" Leo echoed as his face flushed as they could get.

"I figured you're never going to ask me so I dragged you to one." Maika said as she began walking slowly on the marked path.

"What do you mean we never went on one? We had that thing in the tunnel." Leo said walking beside her.

"That doesn't count, so I've been told over and over again." Maika said referring to April's critique on her and Leo's story.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Leo asked.

"We just… talk." Maika answered slipping her hand in his.

"Okay then, what do we call this?" Leo asked.

"Call what?" she asked back.

"This… relationship… I mean us out here on a date." Leo said.

"What do you want to call it?" Maika asked.

"I don't know what to call it." Leo answered.

Maika looked down in disappointment. She stopped walking,

"But I'll figure it out." Leo said.

Maika's head shot up to see his smiling face,

"And I kinda like it when…" Leo's face was nearing hers.

They were getting pulled in the moment just like before. They were only centimeters apart. Then,

"Ah, somebody help!"

They sighed and headed towards the call for help. They hid in the shadow of the trees and saw, three men trying to rob 2 teenage girls.

"Give me that bag!" a man said as he pulled the girl's back pack off her hands.

"No! Don't!" the girl said as she tried to pull it back to her.

The other girl looked frightened as two of the guys looked at her with menacing eyes.

"You wanna take this one?" Leo whispered.

"Piece of cake..." Maika said coming out of the shadows.

"Hey!" she shouted and they looked at her.

"Go away little girl, or we might hurt you too." A guy threatened.

"Good luck with that goliath. Now leave them alone or I'll kick you out of this park." Maika said.

The girls stared at her,

"You kick us?" the men laughed as he let go of the bag and walked towards Maika.

"Who do you think you are, little girl? This is out turf, beat it." He threatened.

"The name is Black cat…" Maika glared and the next thing the guy knew he was flying a few feet back from Maika's flick to his forehead.

The girls were impressed and surprised. Then the other two guys charged at Maika with knives, but Maika defended herself. The girls watched on as Maika avoids the knives and throws punches and kicks at them. Then with her swift hands, she took their knives, disappeared from their sides and reappeared behind their backs whilst holding their own weapon to their throats.

"Had enough?" she whispered.

The men nodded their answer as her frightening skills silenced them. Maika kicked them to their companion on the ground and they hurriedly left the park carrying the unconscious one by his arms. The girls watched on as they ran with their tails between their legs. And when they turned to thank Maika, she was gone.

Somewhere else in the park,

"Couldn't you have finished it sooner?" Leo asked.

"It wouldn't be much fun." She smirked.

"Well then, shall we continue our walk?" Leo said gesturing her to take his hand which she did.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said starting a conversation.

"What does it feel like to be with other people?"

"Well, it can be annoying sometimes. After my parents died I wanted to be left alone but some of my classmates didn't leave me alone. But from what you've been through I can say that it would be awesome if they accept what and who you are." She answered.

"Yeah… I can't say I don't imagine me and my brothers being out there with people more often than we do saving them from aliens and ninjas." He said.

"Can I just say, I sort of envy you guys." She said.

"Why envy us?" he asked.

"You guys don't need to worry as much stuff as I do or as much as anyone normal does."

"Such as what?" he asked.

"Such as school, grades, worrying about what to wear every day or who to be with." She enumerated.

"It's that bad, huh? There must be some perks in living on the surface." He said.

"I wouldn't know because I stay away from people because I'm too afraid of rejection." She said.

"Well they're fools for rejecting someone as special like you." Leo smiled.

"Huh, I think you earn a special price for saying something nice to me." She teased.

She moved closer to his face, but then Leo's phone rang and she withdrew herself.

"Hello…?" Leo greeted the other turtle in the other end of the line.

"Leo, I killed Raph in the video game!"

Leo furthered his phone from his ear as his brother's voice blew his ears,

"Is that what you called me to tell me, Mikey?" Leo answered.

"No, Itachi-san said, bring Maika-chan back by 9 o'clock or you're in trouble." Mikey said.

"Yeah, we'll be back before then don't worry." Leo said.

"Okay bro… Oh, gotta go… Raph just resurrected and I have to kill him again." Mikey said before hanging up.

"Well it sounds like they're having fun." She said.

"Mikey's really happy, he now knows a couple more humans other than April. That's all he really wants, to be part of this world and not just with us down there in the sewer." He said.

"But you know I can't imagine meeting you guys in a different circumstance." Maika said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I can't see you guys being normal, being like everyone else. If you were, we wouldn't have met." She said.

"We can't be sure about that."

"I am… everyone's who they are because of what they are on the inside and on the outside. If you were a normal guy then I'm sure a lot of things will be different. I wouldn't have liked you as much as you are now." Maika answered.

"And I guess if you were a normal girl I wouldn't have this chance with you…"

She smiled at him, the most honest way she can reply to his statement.

"Now come on…" Leo gently pulled on her hand as he marched on the path.

"Where are we going?" Maika asked.

"Just follow…"' he simply answered.

Rooftop after rooftop, they ran and leaped. Leo stopped for a while,

"Uh Leo, why are we on top of a tattoo parlor?" Maika asked.

"We're not there yet." He said reaching for something in his belt.

"Then why did we stop…"

Suddenly, Leo gently wrapped a blue handkerchief over Maika's eyes. As he was tying it behind her head,

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"It's a surprise…." He answered double knotting the tie so it won't fall along the way.

"But how am I supposed to move and follow you now that I'm… whoo! Oh my gosh…"

Maika felt her feet being swept away from under her.

"Okay now I'm worried. Leo, are you sure this is safe?" Maika asked as she felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulder and under her thighs.

"Don't you trust me?" Leo asked propping her properly in his arms.

"With a blindfold, no I don't trust you at all." Maika answered wrapping her arms around what she assumed was his neck.

"Alright, hold on." He said as he leaped the rest of the way.

After a while, Maika finally stepped on solid ground. She felt strong winds pushing her in all direction.

"You ready for this?" Leo asked as his arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Maika said.

Leo took off her blindfold and she blinked a few times to clear her blurred vision. But the view she saw took her breath away. They were on top of the Empire State Building.

"Leo… this is amazing…" she said as she came close to the edge of the building.

Leo gently wrapped his arms around her waist as he stepped behind her.

"You like it…?" he asked whispering it to her ear.

Maika nodded as she placed her hands on his hands, Leo rested his chin on her shoulder and the both of them took in the air. They stared at the stars in the sky and the lights on the ground.

"I'll definitely miss this when I go back." She said.

"Doesn't Tokyo have a high tower that basically has the same view?" Leo said.

"No, not that…"

Leo raised his head in confusion, and then Maika's head looked back and smashed her lips against his much to his surprise and delight. He started to kiss her back. Leo loosened his embrace on her and she twisted herself to face him completely before tightening his arms around her again. Maika wrapped her arms around her neck and continued to passionately kiss him. They withdrew from each other,

"That's what I'm going to miss most of all." She whispered as she stared into his eyes with half hooded eyes.

"Then will you stay here with me?" Leo asked with pleading eyes.

Maika giggled,

"I wish I could, but you and I both know I can't leave my home, not now." She answered with a genuine smile.

"Then will you come back?" Leo asked.

Maika pulled his head to an embrace,

"Of course, as soon as I can come back." Maika said.

There was a silence for a few moments,

"Can I ask you for one more thing? Leo asked.

"What is it?" she asked back.

"Can you teach me how to dance?" Leo asked.

Maika was surprised, she withdrew from her embrace and stared at him with a skeptical and surprised.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

Leo embarrassingly nodded.

"What kind of dance?" she asked.

Leo smirked. They stayed on the roof of the tallest building of the city; Maika searched her phone for the perfect song to go with her companion's request. The music started with the sound of the piano.

"Are you ready?" she softly asked.

Leo smiled as he gestured her to place her hand on his. He pulled her close, he placed a hand around her waist and raised her other hand by the side of his head. The lyrics of the songs started playing, Leo led her, taking one graceful step at a time around the roof,

_You're in my arms, and all the world is calm.  
The music playing on for only two.  
So close, together.  
And when I'm with you  
So close, to feeling alive._

A life goes by,  
Romantic dreams must die.  
So I bid my goodbye  
And never knew.  
So close, was waiting,  
Waiting here with you.  
And now, forever, I know  
All that I wanted  
to hold you so close.

So close to reaching  
That famous happy end.  
Almost believing  
This one's not pretend.  
And now you're beside me,  
And look how far we've come.  
So far we are. So close...

As the orchestra played, he twirled and spun her giving her the feeling that he was never going to let her be alone again. They moved gracefully but at the same time aggressively around the concrete floor imagining as if they were on clouds. Leo could see her smile, she was happy and so was he, and it was the time of their lives. The song slowed down and he held her as close as he can,

_Oh how could I face the faceless days  
If I should lose you now?_

We're so close to reaching  
that famous happy end,  
And almost believing,  
this one's not pretend.  
Let's go on dreaming  
for we know we are...

Leo sang with the lyrics of the song as he stared into her eyes that shone under the moonlight,

_so close, so close  
and still so far..._

The song finished with his arms around her torso and her arms around his neck. She kissed him again, and they ended their date at that. They went back after a few minutes of leaping back to the sewers. When they got home, they guys were still playing and have already eaten through 6 boxes of Antonio's pizza. Maika split off Leo and sat next to April and Leo was called over to the kitchen by Itachi. After Leo and Itachi disappeared into the kitchen, April pulled Maika to the lab.

"So, tell me everything." April excitedly said.

"There's nothing to tell April." Maika smiled.

"Oh please, your face totally tells me otherwise. Come on, you're leaving anyway. Please give me something to ridicule Leo with." April said.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Maika asked.

April smiled,

"Everything…" she replied.

Meanwhile in the kitchen,

"Am I in trouble, Itachi-san?" Leo anxiously asked.

"Trouble…? No, I just want to talk." Itachi said offering him a glass of cola.

"Talk about what?" Leo asked.

"You realize don't you that Maika has never been with anyone and as her big brother and only family I want to protect her." Itachi said gesturing Leo to sit on the opposite side of the table.

"Of course, I want to protect her too." Leo said.

"I know you do. I guess I'm a little paranoid because my 15 year old sister is going out with a teenage mutant ninja turtle." Itachi said.

"Is it too surreal?" Leo asked in a disappointing tone.

"No I like it; it makes it so much more unique. Of course I can't advise her that much because I know the problems you're going to have are going to be different from a normal couple's, but I want her to be happy." Itachi said.

"I want her to be happy too." Leo awkwardly said.

"Good, then we understand each other. I'm going to leave you here because Mikey just beat my high score and I need to set a new record." Itachi said walking to the entrance and back out to the living room.

Leo was left to ponder as he took a sip of his cola. Maika walked in to get food,

"What did you talk about?" she asked as she rummaged through the boxes of pizza on the counter.

"Uh, I didn't really follow what he told me. But it was weird." Leo answered as Maika placed a plate of pizza in front of him.

"Leave it to my brother to have that kind of talk." She said sitting in front of Leo and facing her own plate of pizza.

"So…"

"Are you still confused of what we are?" she asked.

"Uh, a little…" he answered.

"If it's any consolation, I'm going to let April call what this is." She said.

"You told her?" Leo asked.

"She shook it right out of me. Do you still want to know what we are?" she asked.

Leo hesitated to answer. He stood up and walked to her side.

"It's best we keep it unknown. It makes it more exciting." He whispered to her.

She smiled in response,

"You better go join the guys and their idiocy for that video game." She smirked.

"Okay, but you owe me one for the surprise I gave you a while ago." He said.

"How about…" She whispered the rest of her answer to his ear.

She withdrew herself with a big smile on her face and also on his face.

"Deal…" he said before leaving with her to the living room.

Maika made her way to the dojo where April hid from the boys' loud shouts and rough housing over a video game.

"What happens now?" April asked as she sat in the corner holding a glass of cola.

"What do you mean?" Maika asked back as she sat next to her.

"My training, our friendship…" April said with a soft and sad tone.

"Well, I'm sure master splinter will continue training you so long as you take his training seriously. As for our friendship, we'll continue to be great friends no matter how far we're apart." Maika said playfully embracing April over the shoulder.

"How surreal is it to have a friend overseas who's a great ninja?" April smiled.

"How surreal is it to have four teenage mutant ninja turtles as really close friends and one of them… I've totally fallen for." Maika said.

"Oh, can you teach me how to draw an anime face?" April asked.

"Why is everyone asking me to teach them to do random things today?" Maika said asked.

April responded with a shrug and a smile as she and Maika headed for Donnie's lab where their bags were. Maika started sketching to teach April. She doodled April as an anime character and April tried to do Maika. After a while, they heard no more noise from outside. They assumed the guys had passed out from too much pizza and sugar. When they opened the big metal doors, they assumed right. All the guys were panting and passed out with a few more boxes of pizzas surrounding them and the game controllers still in their hands.

"Tell me this does not surprise you April." Maika said looking down on a drooling Mikey whose feet were raised on their couch.

"No, boys will be boys." April said looking down on Donnie lying on his stomach with his butt raised.

"Let's just fix them before ants crawl up in their shells." Maika said pulling Mikey's arm positioning him off the couch and properly on the floor.

"I'll go get the mattresses." April said walking to the bedrooms to get the mattresses at Donnie's room.

Maika begun picking and stacking up the boxes of pizza, and she pulled the guys to better position them for sleeping. April came in to the living room with a stack of thick mattresses and blankets. The girls both helped each other to fix the guys while they were heavily snoozing. After a while, Maika picked up the controllers and tossed on to April. They got in their mattresses and kicked back to play the game. While they were playing,

"Hey Maika, when you come back, how do you think I would be as a kunoichi?" April asked.

"I don't know it will depend on how long I'll be away." Maika answered.

There was silence between them,

"You want me to answer how long will I be away, weren't you?" Maika asked.

"Because I'm hoping it won't be too long." April said.

"Maybe when I come back, I'll let you wield my sword." Maika smirked.

"Ha, when you come back, I've gotten used to my tessen by then and I can kick butt." April smiled.

"Well you can kick butt now." Maika smirked.

Then April pushed a button and defeated Maika in the game.

"See, you just kick my butt in the game." Maika said.

"Well it's just a video game." April said.

Suddenly, Leo moved his head and placed it on Maika's lap.

"He will miss you the most." April said as Maika placed a warm hand on Leo's cheek.

"And I'll definitely miss everyone." Maika smiled at April.

She moved Leo's head gently as she slid under her blanket. Leo then consciously placed his arm around Maika's waist. Maika moved closer to his face just to see his eyes half open and a smirk drawn on his face.

"You are such an idiot." She whispered before pecking his forehead.

She moved closer and rested her head on his plastron.

"How lucky you are Maika." April said noticing them.

Then she heard Donnie speak,

"My sweet princess April… I'm gonna save you from the evil wizard Kraang." He mumbled turning from one side to towards her face.

April smiled as she lightly caressed his face, careful she won't wake him.

The next day, the guys helped Itachi and Maika pack their things in the condo. They were silent as they packed one thing at a time. Then,

"I want you guys to have a few things before we go." Itachi said.

"April, for being my first friend in the city, I want to give you this." Maika handed her a pendant necklace with a cherry blossom.

"It's beautiful." April said.

"Don, would you do the honors." Maika smirked at the tall turtle that stared at her confused but reached out his hand for the necklace anyway.

He threw one of his hands over April's head and locked the chain of the necklace at the back of her neck, holding his breath in anxiety with the sudden gesture.

"You should know that flower is my mom's name and she was a kunoichi when she was young. She gave that to me when she and my dad were training me. She said it gave her strength and it will give me strength as well. Now I'm giving it to you so even though I'm not here you would have the strength that I had." Maika smiled.

"I promise I'll take care of it." April smiled as they hugged.

"Now for Donatello…" Itachi said as he presented him with a blue notebook.

"Thank you… uh, what is it, Itachi-san?" Donnie asked.

"Well, since you're the genius of your team and the one who makes all the cool weapons, I'd figure you need this more than I do." Itachi said.

Donnie opened the notebook and saw plans, blueprints and schematics for new weapons and equipment for a modern day ninja.

"Whoa… this is high grade stuff Itachi-san. Are you sure you want to give this to me?" Don asked.

"Well you guys will be facing the shredder and those kraang from now on. There's no harm in a little upgraded arsenal." Itachi smiled.

"Now me… my turn… now me!" Mikey enthusiastically cheered raising his arm and jumping up and down.

"Of course, Mikey… you get to keep this…" Itachi said retrieving a boxed toy of a robot.

"Whoa, awesome..." Mikey said as he grabbed it from him and stared at it.

"This is a limited edition Robo-Guardian 13 action figure. There were only 100 models made and you get to keep one of the 10 action figures to have the original seal of certification." Itachi explained.

"Cool… I'll never take it out of its box for as long as I have it." Mikey innocently grinned.

"Raph, your turn…" Maika said.

"I don't even want anything." Raph coldly crossed his arms.

"We're gonna give it to you anyway." Maika said throwing him a modified weapon.

"That a modified kunai knife, doesn't break and very useful." Maika said.

Raph spun it between his fingers and kept it in his belt.

"You're welcome, hot head." Maika smirked.

"What about Leo's gift?" Mikey asked.

"Hey, how about you help me get these bags down to the lobby before any of the neighbors come?" Itachi said.

April, Mikey, Raph, Donnie and Itachi carried bags to the elevator, which ran in their room to the lobby. Leo and Maika were left to talk in the room.

"So where's my gift then?" Leo smiled.

Maika reached in her bag and brought out a black book. She handed it to him,

"What's this for?" he asked.

"Open it to see…" she smiled.

They were her sketches of their most memorable times together. They were drawings of her and April, her and the brothers and her and him. As he scanned through the pages he remembered all the laughs and the good times they all shared.

"Thank you Leonardo, for everything." She smiled.

Leo walked closer to her and embraced her.

"Come back soon, princess." He whispered as he tightened his embrace.

"Till next time, my prince." She whispered back.

Then after, one final kiss…

* * *

Congratulations! you've reached the end of my story. I know, it's not that good but it's not that bad as well. Forgive me for a corny farewell. Review!

Just had to get this fantasy out of my head.


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